China's HKSAR seeks more space for elderly care homes

HONG KONG -?The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has started discussion to find more potential sites for constructing residential care homes for the elderly, an official said here on Saturday.

The HKSAR government's Labour and Welfare Bureau has started discussion with the Planning Department on specifications for building the residential homes for elderly people in accordance with the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong told media after attending a radio program.

"We have already started the process to discuss with the Planning Department and see how we can put (the specifications) back into the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, so that in the future planning process in Hong Kong, we will have more potential sites for such facilities," he said.

Law pointed out that the building standard of the residential care homes has to be upgraded, adding that such facilities are currently subject to a 24-meter height restriction due to security and fire safety reasons.

"As you probably know that, hospitals can be multi-storey, which basically means that (the) building standard of a residential home has to be upgraded to that of the hospitals, which requires design, specifications and cost considerations," Law said.

"We will have to handle this difficulty so that we can have more potential sites, including those over and above 24 meters for the future," he added.