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Following is a question by the Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (June 5):
Question:
I have received complaints from members of the public about the serious problem of fly-tipping of construction waste in old districts such as Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Yau Tsim Mong, etc. They pointed out that quite a number of flats in the old buildings in such districts had been converted by the owners into "sub-divided units" for renting out, and the alteration works involved had produced a large quantity of construction waste. Since the streets and scavenging lanes in the vicinity of these buildings were not managed by owners' corporations or property management companies, some renovation workers had dumped the construction waste in such places. These members of the public considered that such practice not only polluted the environment, but also blocked fire escapes, posing hazard to the safety of the residents. Although they had taken the initiative to report such cases to the Environmental Protection Department, law enforcement officers were unable to institute prosecutions against the offenders as the fly-tippers had already left when these officers arrived at the scene. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received in the past three years by the authorities about fly-tipping of construction waste in the vicinity of buildings or by the roadside in urban areas, broken down by District Council district, and among those complaints, the number of cases in which the persons concerned had been prosecuted;
(b) of the respective numbers of inspections and surprise checks conducted by the authorities for combating fly-tipping of construction waste in urban areas, the manpower dedicated to conducting such inspections and instituting related prosecutions, and the quantity of construction waste removed, in the past three years;
(c) whether the authorities have taken further measures to combat fly-tipping of construction waste; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) whether it will consider amending the existing legislation to empower officers from the Police, Fire Services Department as well as the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to institute prosecutions against fly-tippers of construction waste; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Administration set up an inter-departmental co-ordination mechanism in 2009 to combat fly-tipping of construction waste. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) co-ordinates with relevant government departments, including the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the Highways Department (HyD), the Home Affairs Department (HAD), the Lands Department (LandsD), the Buildings Department, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Planning Department, in regular monitoring of fly-tipping black spots, the exchange of information and the co-ordination of enforcement actions among departments in order to effectively tackle the fly-tipping problem. Concerned departments will step up enforcement action as necessary and clear the fly-tipped construction waste as soon as they are reported.
(a) The number of complaints received by the Administration against fly-tipping of construction waste in urban public places (including pavements, roadside and Government land) over the past three years are given in Table I. The number of prosecutions over the past three years are given in Table II.
(b) The number of inspections by the Administration in urban areas over the past three years are given in Table III, while the quantities of fly-tipped construction waste cleared by the Administration are given in Table IV.
The inspections and enforcement work form part and parcel of the regular duties and tasks of the enforcement officers in the relevant departments. There is no specific breakdown of the staffing provision dedicated for this area of work.
(c) To address fly-tipping of construction waste in old districts such as Yau Tsim Mong, the government departments will step up inspections and blitz operations to combat fly-tipping in those districts through the inter-departmental co-ordination mechanism.
Moreover, the government departments will strengthen publicity and public education efforts including distribution of guidelines and publicity leaflets to the construction and/or renovation contractors, the property owners and property management companies, etc. in the old districts in order to remind the trade and related stakeholders on the requirement to comply with the relevant legislation and to properly dispose of their construction waste. As regards those individual construction and renovation contractors who fly-tip construction waste in the vicinity of buildings or roadside in urban areas, the EPD will prosecute the offenders by summons where sufficient evidence is gathered.
(d) The Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance has authorised the EPD, the FEHD, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Housing Department, and the Police Force to issue fixed penalty notices to fly-tipping offenders. If any fly-tipped construction waste constitutes obstruction to designated exits of a building, the Fire Services Department will take enforcement actions under the Hong Kong Laws Chapter 95F - Fire Services (Fire Hazard Abatement) Regulation. The existing legislation have conferred enforcement powers against fly-tipping to various government departments, there is thus no need to further amend the existing legislation. In addition, any person who witnesses any suspected fly-tipping activities may provide information and evidence to the EPD. Follow-up prosecution will be initiated where there is sufficient evidence.
Ends/Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:41
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