Second Round of Applications for Building Drainage System Repair Subsidy Scheme Opens Today
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced that the second round of applications for the Building Drainage System Repair Subsidy Scheme (the Scheme) opens from today (12 July 2021). The second-round application allows all eligible buildings to apply for the subsidy, irrespective of whether their buildings have outstanding statutory orders from the Buildings Department on common drains.
With increasing public concerns that defective drains can be a means to spread COVID-19, a total of $1 billion has been earmarked in the 2021-2022 Government Budget to launch the Scheme. Tasked to be responsible for administering the Scheme, the URA will provide technical and financial assistance to owners of old buildings with relatively low rateable value, thus facilitating needy owners to organise repair and/or improvement works on drains to improve the living condition and environmental hygiene.
The first-round application of the Scheme, launched on 1 May 2021, focused on applications from buildings that have outstanding statutory orders. As of early July, around 100 applications have been received. Among the eligible applications, the cases with outstanding statutory orders on common drains have already been processed by the URA. Case officers are assigned to follow up with the representatives of owners’ corporations or owners’ organisations to facilitate the processes involved, which include reminding the applicants to convene an owners’ meeting to deliberate on the submission of an application for the Scheme and to furnish the meeting minutes to the URA for vetting.
Those eligible applications without outstanding statutory orders will be included in the second round automatically without the need to re-submit an application. The URA will notify all the applicants of the priority ranking of both the first-round and second-round applications starting from late July this year. Thereafter, the announcement of the priority ranking for subsequent applications will be made every month.
The application requirements and subsidy amount of the second round are the same as the first round. Application forms and application notes are now available for interested parties to download from the Building Rehabilitation Platform (www.brplatform.org.hk) or obtain from the following places:
- URA Headquarters: 26/F COSCO Tower, 183 Queen’s Road Central
- URA Building Rehabilitation Office: Unit 1001, 10/F, Tower 2, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza, 833 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon
- Urban Renewal Resource Centre: 1/F, No. 6 Fuk Tsun Street, Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon
- URA Kowloon City Neighbourhood Centre: Units K & L, 1/F, Sunshine Plaza, 17 Sung On Street, Hung Hom, Kowloon
- All District Offices and Home Affairs Enquiry Centres
Eligible owners can submit the completed application by mail, in person to the URA offices, or submit online to the Building Rehabilitation Platform.
For details about the Scheme, members of the public can call the Hotline at 3188 1188.
(ENDS)