DAB Calls For HK$2bn Fund To Replace Old Lifts

The DAB party is demanding that the government set up a HK$2 billion fund to help replace or upgrade lifts that have been in operation for more than 20 years.

This comes after a series of lift accidents in the city, including a fatal one in Sheung Shui last Friday.

The party said in many old buildings in the city, there is no management committee to run things and many elderly residents living in such places don't have the money and technical knowledge to organise the matter.

Lawmaker Vincent Cheng said the government had a similar programme in 2009, called Operation Building Bright (OBB) which helped renovate old buildings, which worked well.

Cheng said that many buildings in his constituency, Kowloon West, are really old and some of the lifts are not even working.

The worst case is a building where the lift has not been functioning for two years and the tenants on higher floors use the adjacent building to reach the roof and then walk across to their building, he said.

Cheng told RTHK's Wendy Wong that they put forward their proposal when they met Secretary for Development, Michael Wong, on Friday and they are hopeful of a favourable outcome.