Regulation of Private Columbaria

List of Columbaria in respect of which the steps that specified officer considers necessary for disposal of ashes have been carried out

Serial No.	Name of Columbarium	Address	Commencement of ash disposal notice		On-site claim period		Venue at which the unclaimed ashes are temporarily kept (the commencement date of storage)**
			Date of issue	Notice copy	Start from	End on
1	Ting Wai Monastery	No.53 Ma Wo Village, Tai Po, New Territories	14.2.2018		5.3.2018	4.3.2019	FEHD Temporary Ashes Storage Facilities (20.12.2019)

* Note: The implementation of the "prescribed ash disposal procedures" in respect of the ashes originally kept in the private columbarium mentioned in the left column has been completed. The unclaimed ashes are temporarily stored in the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s temporary ash storage facilities (temporary storage facilities). If those unclaimed ashes in the private columbarium mentioned in the left column were delivered to the temporary storage facilities in batches, the “commencement date of storage” is the date of delivering the last batch of ashes to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. If any relevant person wants to claim the unclaimed ashes at the temporary storage facilities within the 24-month period starting from the above-mentioned “commencement date of storage”, he/ she may contact the staff of the Private Columbaria Affairs Office (PCAO) at 2892 2731 for arrangements. The period for submission of applications for claiming the above unclaimed ashes will expire at the end of 24 months after the “commencement date of storage”.

Having regard to the COVID-19 epidemic situation in Hong Kong, a special arrangement is currently in place: for those ashes with “commencement date of storage” which is on or before 31.12.2022 (i.e. the private columbarium in which the concerned ashes were originally interred has delivered the last batch of ashes to the temporary storage facilities on or before 31.12.2022), the deadline for relevant persons to submit applications for claiming the unclaimed ashes at the temporary storage facilities is extended to 31.12.2025 to allow more time for the claimants to submit their applications.

After the above period for submission of applications for claiming the unclaimed ashes at the temporary storage facilities has expired, PCAO will take into account the prevailing circumstances and dispose of the unclaimed ashes in accordance with section 15 of Schedule 5 to the Private Columbaria Ordinance.