The Labour & Welfare Bureau has started discussion with the Planning Department to find more potential sites for constructing residential care homes for the elderly.
Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong made the statement to the media today after attending a radio programme, saying the ability to locate such sites is related to the Hong Kong Planning Standards & Guidelines.
"We don't have any detailed specifications for the building of (such) residential homes.
"So 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 & Guidelines, so that in the future planning process in Hong Kong, we will have more potential sites for such facilities."
Dr Law also said the building standard of the residential care homes has to be upgraded, adding such facilities are currently subject to a 24-metre 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.
"We will have to handle this difficulty so that we can have more potential sites, including those over and above 24 metres for the future."
