The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, yesterday (February 20) met the representatives from the property management ("PM"), cleansing and security sector to introduce relevant details of the "Property Management Sector Support Scheme" under the Anti-epidemic Fund.  Legislative Council Member for Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape Constituency and the Chairman of the Property Management Services Authority, Mr Tony Tse; the President of the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies, Dr Johnnie Chan; the Convenor of the Hong Kong Services Trade Alliance, Dr Mickey Yan, and the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Registered Security Trainers, Mr Justin Wong, have attended the meeting.
 
     "Different sectors have been affected, in different extent, since the outbreak of the COVID-19. Urgent financial support to the frontline PM workers, in particular cleansing and security workers, is warranted so as to better cope with the present public health challenge.  Therefore, we have proposed to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council to launch the 'Property Management Sector Support Scheme' to facilitate the anti-epidemic work," said Mr Lau.
 
     The Scheme aims to provide the frontline PM workers in private residential and composite buildings with financial support, so as to strengthen their capacity on personal protection and environmental hygiene, and give recognition to their committed services provided during this critical period. The Scheme also seeks to alleviate the additional costs arising from heightened cleansing efforts and procurement of cleansing products and protective kits, and to alleviate the burden on the residents.
 
     The Scheme will provide each eligible building block with the following support:
 

• Each of the frontline PM workers (i.e. cleansing/security workers) will be given a monthly "anti-epidemic hardship allowance" of $1,000 per eligible worker for four months, subject to a cap of six headcounts, i.e. a maximum of $24,000 "anti-epidemic hardship allowance" per eligible building block (for a residential estate, the quota will be calculated based on the sum of that entitled by each of the eligible building blocks within the estate);
• the PM company or owners/residents organisations will be given a lump sum "anti-epidemic cleansing subsidy" of $2,000 per building block, as a subsidy for stepping up anti-epidemic cleansing efforts (e.g. buying of cleansing products and protective kits, etc.) in the four-month period and as recognitions of their efforts in enhancing hygiene awareness.

 
     It is expected that over 200 000 frontline PM workers serving around 33 000 building blocks (around 800 PM companies and/or 10 000 owners or residents organisations) will be benefited. The total funding required will be about $1 billion. Upon the approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, the scheme should be open for application in March 2020. 
 
     Mr Lau expressed gratitude to Mr Tony Tse and the representatives of the sector attending the meeting for their efforts in appealing for the PM sectors' support in anti-epidemic work.  He expected the engagement of the PM sector in the formulation of the Scheme should be able to provide frontline cleansing and security workers with appropriate support for anti-epidemic work. The representatives of the sector concurred that it was necessary to launch the Scheme as soon as possible; and the application procedures should be simplified to facilitate early disbursement of funding. They fully support the launching of the Scheme and will work in corporation with the Government to fight against the epidemic.      

Ends/Friday, February 21, 2020
Issued at HKT 0:02

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