Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ2: Private columbaria
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 2):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number and distribution of private columbarium facilities
according to the information that various government departments have;
(b) of the number of complaints about private columbarium facilities received by
the authorities last year, details of the complaints, and how such complaints
were followed up by the authorities; and
(c) given that the Government indicated in its reply to the question of a Member
of this Council early this year that it was considering the formulation of
appropriate measures to promote information transparency in the trade of private
columbarium facilities and to strengthen consumer protection, of the progress of
such work, and whether it has any plan to regularise existing private
columbarium facilities; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Currently, there are eight public columbaria managed by the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) providing about 167,900 public niches.
Apart from some 300 re-used public niches which would be available each year for
allotment to applicants on the waiting list, the rest has all been taken up. In
July 2009, the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council approved funding for
construction of a new public columbarium within the Wo Hop Shek Cemetery,
providing some 41,000 new niches for use in 2012. Apart from public columbaria,
a total of about 208,700 niches are provided and managed by the non-governmental
Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (BMCPC), all of which
have been allotted, with only a few available for re-use. BMCPC anticipated that
about 50,000 newly-built niches will be provided in the coming two years. Other
cemeteries managed by the Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist and other religious
bodies provide about 119,300 niches in total, of which some 35,400 are not yet
allotted. It is projected that about 8,000 newly-built niches will be available
in the coming two years. In addition, there is market demand for private
columbaria which is an alternative source of supply, and which provide consumers
with choice. Some patrons prefer private columbaria mainly because of their
personalised services, for instance, pre-death purchase, daily worship services
and Feng Shui, etc.
The operation of all trades in Hong Kong must be in compliance with the relevant
statutory requirements. Although the provision of private columbaria for storage
of cremains does not give rise to public health and environmental hygiene
concerns, they still need to comply with the relevant requirements on planning,
construction design, building standards and fire safety, as well as conditions
of the land leases. The relevant government departments will handle the
problems, enquiries and complaints relating to private columbaria in accordance
with legislation and administrative measures under their purview. My reply to
the three parts of the question is as follows:
(a) Regarding private columbaria, the existing information available to
government departments is mainly derived from the past applications for planning
permission or complaint cases. The current number and distribution of private
columbarium facilities according to statistics on planning permission and
complaints about private columbaria received in the past three years are at
Annex.
(b) In 2009, 29 and 143 complaints about private columbaria were received by the
Planning Department and Lands Department (LandsD) respectively. Besides, the
FEHD also received 31 complaints related to suspected private columbaria. The
complaints were mainly about incompatibility of the columbaria with the
community, breach of lease conditions, occupation of private or government
lands, environmental hygiene nuisances and impacts on local traffic. Various
departments have handled such problems, enquiries and complaints in accordance
with their respective mandate and relevant legislation, or referred the cases to
other responsible departments for follow-up.
As advised by the Development Bureau, on the planning aspect, under the existing
Town Planning Ordinance, the Planning Authority may take enforcement and
regulatory actions against confirmed unauthorised developments in areas covered
by the Development Permission Area Plans (i.e. rural areas in the New
Territories). For cases involving columbaria, if there are sufficient evidences
confirming that the columbaria concerned comprised unauthorised developments
after investigation, the Planning Authority will take enforcement and regulatory
actions in accordance with the Town Planning Ordinance, including the issue of
Enforcement Notices.
On land administration, upon receipt of a complaint about a breach of land use
requirements stated in land leases, the LandsD will deploy its staff to carry
out inspection on the site concerned. Legal advice will be sought on the lease
conditions which may be involved in the actual circumstances, and follow-up
actions will be taken as appropriate. Where landowners apply for regularising a
breach of land lease requirements, or intend to apply for modification of lease
conditions for the provision of columbarium facilities, the LandsD will consider
and process the applications. It will normally advise applicants to apply for
and obtain the planning permission first, and will consider the views of the
relevant departments in the process. If the application is approved, the LandsD
will include the appropriate conditions for lease modification, and this may
entail the payment of a land premium.
If the operation of columbaria gives rise to street management problems, various
departments will take actions in accordance with respective mandate. For the
FEHD, it will tackle those problems which have an impact on environmental
hygiene within its purview, such as obstruction to street cleansing operations
and fouling of streets. Besides, if the burning of paper offerings gives rise to
air pollution, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) may despatch staff
to conduct on-site investigation under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, and
if any emission of air pollutants from such activities is found to cause a
nuisance, the EPD may serve an Air Pollution Abatement Notice to those engaged
in the activities to require that relevant measures be taken to eliminate the
nuisance. As regards the related problems of noise, obstruction of traffic etc.,
the Police may take appropriate action within its ambit.
(c) As indicated by our Bureau at the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel
on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene in February 2010, we have set up a task
force in conjunction with the policy bureaux and departments concerned to study
how to address the issue of columbarium development. It is expected that the
results of the study will be announced in due course. Promoting information
transparency in the trade to protect consumers' interests is one of our work
priorities. Besides, we have to explore other possible options to increase the
supply of columbarium facilities and facilitate transformation of social
traditions by encouraging members of the public to use more sustainable means
for cremains disposal and paying tribute to the deceased. As regards
regularisation, as mentioned in part (b) of the reply, regularisation is one of
the most common means to address the issue of unauthorised columbaria. Under the
existing mechanism, there are established channels and procedures for private
columbaria to apply to the departments concerned for operating the facilities in
an authorised manner (e.g. applying for the relevant planning permission and/or
lease modification). The Administration will continue to process applications
for regularisation, as well as consider if a licensing scheme should be
introduced in future to regulate private columbaria, and consulting the public
on this.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:43
NNNN
LegCo Q2 Annex