Chan Meng Kam | Gov’t promises to speed up supporting facilities at Seac Pai Van

The Legislative Assembly’s Follow-up Committee on Public Affairs concluded its discussion and reports on three issues yesterday, namely unoccupied public housing units, road safety threats, and road excavation works.
The committee’s president, lawmaker Chan Meng Kam, told the media after the meeting that these issues are closely associated with the livelihoods of residents, and thus have received considerable attention from the public. “Therefore, the committee decided to follow up on these issues, pushing the government to reflect on its implementation and improve legislation, so as to respond to society’s demands,” he said.
Chan cited a government representative as saying that the issue of idle public housing units has resulted in a situation where “there are people who have no house to live in while there are houses that no one lives in.”
“The main reason is in not having implemented a review system of the then-applicants’ assets and income, so that some people have obtained their public housing unit without a pressing need for housing,” he explained. “Another reason is that – especially shown in the Seac Pai Van public housing complex – the supporting facilities are inadequate, which hinders the willingness of residents to move in.”
Chan said that the government has promised to accelerate the construction of additional facilities at Seac Pai Van; as for whether it should introduce penalties to prevent public housing units from the remaining unoccupied, the administration will consider the measures when reviewing the Affordable Housing Law in the future.
During the meeting, committee members also urged the government to improve its coordination mechanisms for road excavation works; they suggested introducing more advanced, low-noise equipment as well as increasing the penalties for project delays.
In addition, Chan revealed that government departments will conduct a joint research investigation into road safety problems that are caused by drunk driving, drug driving and illegal racing, the findings of which will be released at the end of the year.