LCQ19: Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme

Following is a question by the Hon Bernard Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (November 7):

Question:

The Government will implement the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme and invite non-profit making organisations to run social enterprises in selected Government-owned historic buildings.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the details of the following financial support: where justified, financial support will be provided including one-off grant to cover the cost for major renovation of the buildings, in part or in full; nominal rental for the buildings; and one-off grant to meet the starting costs and operating deficits (if any) of the social enterprises for a maximum of the first two years of operation on the pre-requisite that the social enterprise proposal is projected to become self-sustainable after this initial period;

(b) apart from the financial support referred to in (a), whether it will provide other incentives to encourage non-profit making organisations to take part in the above Scheme;

(c) of the criteria to be adopted for selecting organisations to participate in the Scheme; and

(d) how it will assist the organizations concerned in maintaining historic buildings in view of their high maintenance costs?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) Regarding details of the financial support, we would like to provide the following supplementary information:

* One-off grant to cover the cost for major renovation to the building - Historic buildings were built many years ago.  As the construction standards at that time may not meet those nowadays, renovation and alteration works befitting the usage proposed by successful applicants are required.  The high costs incurred, however, are not generally affordable to non-profit making organisations.  The Government will therefore pay for the renovation and alteration works to the building, in part or in full. We have earmarked $1 billion in the Capital Works Reserve Fund for this purpose and will seek approval for the allocation in accordance with the established procedures for capital works.

* Nominal rental for the buildings - To ensure sustainable development of the adaptive re-use projects, successful non-profit making organisations will only be charged a nominal rental, usually at one Hong Kong dollar.  This is also one of the incentives to encourage non-profit making organisations to take part in the Scheme.

* One-off grant to meet the starting costs and operating deficits of the social enterprises for a maximum of the first two years of operation - Non-profit making organisations have a lot of innovative and feasible ideas for operating social enterprises.  However, they are very often not able to run the social enterprises on a self-sustainable basis in the first two years.  The one-off grant from the Government can help them to materialise their ideas.  The prerequisite, however, is that the proposed social enterprises are sustainable, i.e. projected to become self-sustainable after the first two years of operation.  This arrangement more or less resembles the "Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme" under which social enterprises are supported by the Home Affairs Department.

The Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme is at its preparatory stage, implementation details of which are being worked out.  A briefing session for eligible applicants has been scheduled for early November 2007 to, among other things, seek their views on details of the Scheme.  We expect that we would finalise the Scheme and start receiving applications in early 2008.

(b) Apart from the above financial support, we will provide one-stop service for successful applicants to take forward their proposals in the areas of heritage conservation, land use and planning, building architecture, and compliance with Buildings Ordinance.  We believe this is one of the important incentives to encourage organizatons to take part in the Scheme.

(c) The Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme aims to achieve the dual objectives that historic buildings be preserved and at the same time made available for use in the best interest of the community.  In particular, we hope to promote active public participation in the preservation and innovative use of historic buildings.  Applicants under the Scheme should be non-profit making organisations with charitable status under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap 112).  We will take the following factors into account when vetting the applications:

(i)    how best the proposals could help preserve the historic buildings;
(ii)   in the process of adaptive re-use, how the historic significance of the buildings would be brought out effectively;
(iii)  what are the social benefits of the proposed social enterprise and how would it benefit the community at district level, e.g. job opportunities to be provided for the community etc.; and
(iv)   how the social enterprise would operate in terms of financial viability.

(d) The Government, being the owner of those historic buildings, will continue to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the structural parts therein after they have been leased to the successful applicants.

Ends/Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:25



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