Author Archives: hksar gov

     The Buildings Department approved 21 building plans in July, with six on Hong Kong Island, nine in Kowloon and six in the New Territories.

     Of the approved plans, 12 were for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, six were for commercial developments, two were for factory and industrial developments, and one was for community services developments.

     In the same month, consent was given for works to start on eight building projects which, when completed, will provide 107 100 square metres of gross floor area for domestic use involving 1 620 units, and 25 706 sq m of gross floor area for non-domestic use. The department has received notification of commencement of works for seven building projects.

     The department also issued 23 occupation permits, with seven on Hong Kong Island, five in Kowloon and 11 in the New Territories.

     Of the buildings certified for occupation, the gross floor area for domestic use was 189 052 sq m involving 2 932 units, and 192 769 sq m was for non-domestic use.

     The declared cost of new buildings completed in July totalled about $11.1 billion.

     In addition, seven demolition consents involving seven building structures were issued.

     The department received 2 848 reports about unauthorised building works (UBWs) in July and issued 1 255 removal orders on UBWs.

     The full version of the Monthly Digest for July can be viewed by the public on the Buildings Department’s homepage (www.bd.gov.hk). read more

     The Education Bureau has reminded parents who wish to apply for a Primary One (P1) place for their child in any government or aided school in September 2019 to submit their application forms starting next Monday (September 24).

     “Parents intending to apply for a particular government or aided primary school at the Discretionary Places Admission stage under the Primary One Admission (POA) System should submit the completed application form with all supporting documents directly to that school during school office hours between September 24 and October 2,” a spokesman for the Education Bureau said today (September 20).

     He reminded parents that schools would process the applications in accordance with the established procedures and criteria at the Discretionary Places Admission stage. As such, there is no need for parents to prepare portfolios for their children.

     The spokesman reminded parents to submit only one application form for each child. Otherwise, their application for a discretionary place would be rendered void.

     Children who have accepted the offer of P1 places in Direct Subsidy Scheme primary schools will not be allocated P1 places in government or aided primary schools through the POA System.

     Parents who opt to apply for Central Allocation only should submit the completed application form and supporting documents during office hours between September 24, 2018, and January 25, 2019, to the Education Bureau’s School Places Allocation Section (Primary One Admission) at Office 2, 2/F, Manulife Financial Centre, 223 Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon.

     “When completing the application form, parents should fill in the actual residential address of their child. If a false address is given by parents to secure a P1 place for their child under the POA System, the application will be rendered void and the P1 place allocated will be withdrawn. The public are encouraged to report suspected cases of using a false address for POA applications to the School Places Allocation Section by calling the hotline on 2832 7700,” the spokesman said. read more

     The Transport Department (TD) today (September 20) reminded the public that the 126th and 127th auction of personalised vehicle registration marks (PVRMs) will be held this Saturday (September 22) and Sunday (September 23) at Meeting Room S421, L4, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai.
 
     Two lists of 228 and 241 approved PVRMs put up for auction can be downloaded from the department’s website, www.td.gov.hk. The reserve price for all these marks is $5,000. Applicants who have paid a deposit of $5,000 are required to participate in the bidding (including the first bid at the reserve price). Otherwise, the PVRM concerned may be sold to another bidder at the reserve price.
 
     Bidders are also reminded to bring the following documents with them for completion of registration and payment procedures immediately after the successful bidding:
 
(i) The identity document of the successful bidder;
(ii) The identity document of the purchaser if it is different from the successful bidder;
(iii) A copy of the certificate of incorporation if the purchaser is a body corporate; and
(iv) A crossed cheque made payable to “The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” or “The Government of the HKSAR”. (For an auctioned mark paid for by cheque, the first three working days after the date of auction will be required for cheque clearance confirmation before processing of the application for mark assignment can be completed.) Successful bidders can also pay through the Easy Pay System (EPS). Payment by post-dated cheques, cash or other methods will not be accepted.
 
     People who want to participate in the bidding at the auction should take note of the following important points:
 
(i) The display of a PVRM on a motor vehicle should be in compliance with the requirements stipulated in Schedule 4 to the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations;
(ii) Any change to the arrangement of letters, numerals and blank spaces of a PVRM, i.e. single and two rows as auctioned, will not be allowed;
(iii) Purchasers must make payment of the purchase price through EPS or by crossed cheque and complete the Memorandum of Sale of PVRM immediately after the bidding for the PVRM concerned. Subsequent alteration of the particulars in the memorandum will not be permitted; and
(iv) The purchaser shall, within 12 months after the date of auction, apply to the Commissioner for Transport for the PVRM to be assigned to a motor vehicle registered in the name of the purchaser. If the purchaser fails to assign the PVRM within 12 months, allocation of the PVRM will be cancelled and arranged for re-allocation in accordance with the statutory provision without prior notice to the purchaser.
 
     “Upon completion of the Memorandum of Sale of PVRM, the purchaser will be issued a receipt and a Certificate of Allocation of Personalised Registration Mark. The Certificate of Allocation will serve to prove the holdership of the PVRM. Potential buyers of vehicles bearing a PVRM should check the Certificate of Allocation with the sellers and pay attention to the details therein. For transfer of vehicle ownership, this certificate together with other required documents should be produced to the Transport Department for processing,” a TD spokesman said.
 
     For other auction details, please refer to the Guidance Notes – Auction of PVRM, which is available at the department’s licensing offices or can be downloaded from its website, www.td.gov.hk. read more

     The Department of Health (DH) today (September 20) is investigating an information security incident in which unauthorised promotional SMS messages were sent to patients of the DH’s Dental Clinics.

     The DH, through its regular monitoring and review of transaction logs, observed abnormal SMS activities of sending unusual SMS messages to the patients of the DH’s Dental Clinics through the SMS portal. Subsequent investigations with the service provider maintaining the SMS portal revealed that there had been an unauthorised login to one of the user accounts of the portal on September 14 and promotional SMS messages not related to DH services were sent to some 2 700 patients of the DH’s Dental Clinics. According to the preliminary investigation, there was no downloading of personal data involved. The risk of leakage of personal information is likely to be minimal. The SMS account concerned and the DH’s SMS services have been suspended until further notice.

     The DH has reported the incident to the Police and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. A report will also be made to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data later today.

     Patients of the DH’s Dental Clinics are urged not to respond to any suspicious SMS messages or click on any dubious links received via SMS. Also, if members of the public received an SMS reminder from the Dental Service in the past two weeks and wish to enquire about further details of the incident, they may contact the DH at 2970 5955 during office hours.

     The DH attaches great concern to this incident and will step up information security for the portal, with additional security measures to be implemented by the service provider before resumption of the SMS service. The DH has also asked the service provider to submit an investigation report on the incident and will review existing information security measures to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents in future. read more

     The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department today (September 20) announced an adjustment to the auto-LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) ceiling prices for dedicated LPG filling stations from October 1 to October 31, 2018, in a… read more