Many of the posts involve the planning and building of new housing estates, housing deputy director Kenneth Mak said Thursday.

This is because the department intends to reduce the number of new public rental housing estates and has already stopped building Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats.

The plan to readjust staff levels was first announced in October 2002. At the time, the department said it would cut staff by 28 percent from a total of 12,500 to about 9,000 by March 2007.

By Thursday, 2,841 posts, including 17 directorate posts, will have been eliminated.

They include 2,099 civil service posts and 742 contract staff.

Mak said the remaining 660 posts will be cut over the next two years.

An average of HK$8 billion has been spent annually to build about 20,000 new public rental housing flats each year to meet public demand.

This will be lowered to around HK$6 billion annually for the next few years, with fewer than 18,000 flats being built a year.

One reason for the lower building rate is the suspension of plans to build 12,000 new flats at the proposed Kai Tak redevelopment.

The government had originally drafted a plan to redevelop the former airport into a new town, but this has been held up following public opposition to the plan.

To meet the shortfall in new flats, unsold HOS flats will be converted into public rental housing units.

Housing Department Technical Staff Association vice-chairman Tang Siu-sui said staff could not oppose the job cuts due to the reduction in the construction of new housing estates.

dennis.ng@singtaonewscorp.com