Second round of Operation Building Bright opens for applications today

The second round of Operation Building Bright opened for applications today (October 25).

As announced by the Chief Executive in his Policy Address this year, the Government will launch measures to enhance building safety through a multi-pronged approach encompassing legislation, enforcement, public education and support for building owners, a spokesman for the Development Bureau said.

"The second round of Operation Building Bright is one of our targeted measures to enhance building safety by providing subsidies and one-stop technical assistance to owners of old and dilapidated buildings to carry out repair and maintenance works.

"One of the enhanced features of the second round is that in response to earlier requests from owners of large old buildings, the restriction on the number of residential units in eligible buildings will be dispensed with. In other words, buildings with more than 400 residential units are also eligible," the spokesman said.

In 2009, the Government, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) and the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), launched the $2-billion Operation Building Bright, which aims to achieve the dual objective of creating job opportunities for the construction sector and improving building safety.

Since its inception in May last year, the operation has been well received by building owners. To assist more owners to repair their buildings in a timely manner, the Government injected additional funding of $500 million to launch the second round of the operation. The budget of the operation now totals $2.5 billion.

Owners of the target buildings can receive a grant amounting to 80% of the cost of repair of the common areas, subject to a ceiling of $16,000, while elderly owner-occupiers aged 60 or above can receive a grant to cover the full cost of repair of common areas, subject to a ceiling of $40,000.

The operation has so far assisted about 1,800 buildings in carrying out repair works and created around 13,800 employment opportunities. For target buildings in both Categories 1 and 2, repair works have been completed on 172 buildings, and 448 buildings have repair works underway. Another 857 buildings with approvals-in-principle granted will commence repair works upon completion of the procurement procedures.

The second round of the operation invites applications from owners of Category 1 target buildings from today until December 24.

Details of the second round of the operation can be found at the websites of the HKHS (www.hkhs.com) or the URA (www.ura.org.hk).

Ends/Monday, October 25, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:01

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