I UNDERSTAND from the press that all lift-upgrading exercises in Housing Board estates will be completed by 2014.

However, for a block to be eligible for lift upgrading, at least 75 per cent of its residents must vote in favour of the exercise.

What happens in blocks which cannot garner 75 per cent of the vote? Would they be permanently excluded from the lift-upgrading programme (LUP)?

Taking the ageing population into consideration, LUP is a necessity in mature estates, especially for the elderly, wheelchair-bound and the physically disabled.

To deny this group of residents the benefits of lift upgrading is not only unfair, but would also result in hardship and inconvenience to them.

The Government should replace the 75 per cent opt-in for the LUP and with a 75 per cent opt-out vote.

This would ensure that those who do not want lift upgrading would have to think through their decision before voting against the programme.

Mr David Kwok Ng Kan

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