Enhancement Measures under Incentive Scheme to Encourage Provision of Residential Care Home for the Elderly Premises in New Private Developments to Be Made Permanent

Enhancement measures under Incentive Scheme to Encourage Provision of Residential Care Home for the Elderly Premises in New Private Developments to be made permanent

The Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) announced today (May 26) that the pilot enhancement measures of the Incentive Scheme to Encourage Provision of Residential Care Home for the Elderly (RCHE) Premises in New Private Developments (RCHE Incentive Scheme) will be made permanent starting from June 20. All existing arrangements of the Scheme will remain unchanged.

A spokesperson for the LWB said, "The pilot enhancement measures have been welcomed and supported by the industry. The number of applications received by the Government has significantly increased from eight before the enhancement measures were introduced in 2023 to 25 by the end of March this year, achieving remarkable results. In view of this, the Government will make the enhancement measures permanent under the RCHE Incentive Scheme starting from June 20 to keep on driving the market to provide high-quality residential care service places. We hope to create favourable conditions for the market and continue to encourage private developers to construct RCHEs in their development projects, thereby increasing the overall supply of elderly residential care service places in Hong Kong."

The Lands Department and Social Welfare Department (SWD) will update their Practice Note and Guidance Note respectively to facilitate the industry's compliance.

To leverage market forces in developing high-quality RCHEs to meet the community's acute demand for elderly residential care service places, the Government launched the RCHE Incentive Scheme in 2003, allowing developers to be exempted from payment of land premiums for eligible RCHEs when undertaking lease modifications, land exchanges or private treaty grants, on condition that they comply with specific lease conditions and obtain support from the SWD.

In June 2023, the Government introduced the three-year pilot enhancement measures, including:

(a) relaxing the number, and maximum total gross floor area (GFA), of RCHE premises eligible for premium payment exemption in each site from one RCHE premises not exceeding 5 400 square metres to more than one RCHE premises with maximum total GFA of 12 000 sq m or 10 per cent of the total GFA permissible under lease, whichever is the greater; and

(b) when calculating the total GFA of the entire project, the total GFA of the eligible RCHE premises in the private development project will be exempted from being counted in the total GFA of the entire project under lease, thus enabling developers to use the original permissible GFA for other purposes.

The measures concerned aim at enhancing incentives for private developers to build RCHEs in their new development projects.

According to the Scheme, developers are required to bear the construction cost of the RCHE premises which will be owned by the developers upon completion. As long as the premises are to be used as RCHEs, developers may lease or sell each RCHE as one whole unit, or operate the RCHEs on the premises by themselves or by engaging an organisation whereby they may set the fees on their own with regard to the market situation.

Photo source: reference image

Two incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes

Two incoming passengers were sentenced to six months' imprisonment with a fine of $1,000, and five months' imprisonment with a fine of $1,000 respectively by the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts today (May 26) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).

Customs officers intercepted two incoming male passengers, aged 36 and 44, at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (May 25) and seized 51 000 duty-not-paid cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $209,000 and a duty potential of about $169,000, as well as around 38 500 duty-not-paid cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $158,000 and a duty potential of about $127,000, from their personal baggage respectively. The two passengers were subsequently arrested. They were respectively sentenced to six months' imprisonment with a fine of $1,000, and five months' imprisonment with a fine of $1,000 today.

Customs welcomes the sentences. The custodial sentences have imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflect the seriousness of the offences.

Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, cigarettes are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Two incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Two incoming passengers convicted and jailed for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases