A total of 49,556 unauthorised building works were removed from private buildings last year, setting a 10-year record high in the Buildings Department's enforcement action, Director of Buildings Marco Wu says.

Reviewing the work of his department today, Mr Wu said the number of removal orders being complied with and the number of prosecution cases also reached record highs of 29,370 orders and 684 summonses served.

"Large-scale blitz operations to clear unauthorised building works over the past few years were beginning to bear fruit with the number of unauthorised building works removed steadily increased from 18,297 in 2000 to 20,647 in 2001 and 37,923 in 2002," Mr Wu said.

Strengthened enforcement to come 

The compliance rate for removal orders remained relatively low at about 60%, Mr Wu said, adding that enforcement action, including prosecution action, would need to be stepped up in the coming years.

"A total of 713 single staircase buildings were dealt with last year to clear illegal rooftop structures posing fire hazards compared with less than 700 buildings each year for the past few years," he said.

Repair orders soar after SARS outbreak

Mr Wu noted that the inspection of drainage systems at private buildings following the SARS outbreak last April had resulted in a threefold increase in the number of repair orders issued.

A total of 2,676 repair orders were issued to owners of dilapidated buildings last year compared with 671 for the previous year - a rise of nearly 400%.

However, the number of removal orders issued recorded a 50% drop from 54,010 in 2002 to 24,003 for last year.

"This is mainly caused by the need to follow up on the removal orders previously issued, particularly the non-compliance cases," he added.

"To help relieve the additional workload of our department's staff in dealing with Team Clean measures and clearing backlog orders, the department has outsourced some of our work to Housing Department staff."

Drop in new building proposals

Turning to new buildings, Mr Wu said the number of new building proposals submitted for approval continued to decline. The department approved 198 building proposals and issued 197 occupation permits last year, compared with 356 building proposals and 239 occupation permits in 2002.

Last year also saw the completion of a total of 695 buildings, providing 29,160 domestic units and a total non-domestic gross floor area of 0.92 million square metres.

This compared with 1,107 buildings completed, providing 39,521 domestic units and a total non-domestic gross floor area of 1.01 million square metres built in 2002.