bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Tung Chee-hwa faces mounting calls for a revamp of the Housing Authority after attendance records revealed that four members have not turned up at meetings for a year.

 A watchdog group has called for members to be directly elected as nearly half of the 31 members will end their terms next week.

 Authority records showed the worst offenders were lawmaker Sophie Leung Lau Yau-fun and provisional urban councillor Jennifer Chow Kit-bing; HKR International's managing director Payson Cha Mou-sing; and New World Development's director Stewart Cheng Kam-chiu.

 All four were appointed to the authority as co-opted members.

 Mrs Leung and Mr Cha sit on the authority's human resources committee, where members had the lowest attendance rate of 53.8 per cent in 1998-99.

 Mr Cha, who is on an overseas business trip, could not be contacted.

 Mrs Leung, a Liberal Party legislator, conceded that her record was poor and said she would consider resigning from the authority. But she said: 'I pay a lot of attention to housing at Legco.'  Fellow committee member and lawmaker, Lee Wing-tat of the Democratic Party, showed up at only one meeting in the past year.

 He said he had been busy with Legco work. He said: 'The human resources committee often does not discuss policy issues, which are usually straightforward.'  Ms Chow and Mr Cheng sit on the complaints committee, for which the attendance rate was 56.7 per cent - the second lowest. Neither Ms Chow nor Mr Cheng could be reached for comment last week.

 Authority members' attendance records had been kept secret until 1995, when they were disclosed by the South China Morning Post.

 A spokesman for the authority secretariat said: 'Members do have other commitments and sometimes our meeting schedules might clash with theirs.'  The authority, chaired by Exco member Rosanna Wong Yick-ming, has eight standing committees. All members are appointed by Mr Tung.

 It is Hong Kong's biggest landlord, providing accommodation for half the population.

 The authority had five full meetings over the year, with an average attendance rate of 83.6 per cent.

 Hongkong People's Council on Public Housing Policy urged all authority seats to be opened for direct elections.

 Chief executive Virginia Ip Chiu-ping said: 'It may not be too surprising then that we have such lousy housing policies if there are so many lazy members.

 'When the Government is so fond of talking about boosting efficiency and value-for-money, it's the right time for Mr Tung to kick out the lazy bones and open the authority to public monitoring.'  But the Housing Bureau said it saw no urgent need for changes. A spokesman said: 'The current appointment system has been working effectively.' 



4 housing advisers skip all meetings