DCS to lead District Matters Co-ordination Task Force
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     The Government announced today (July 6) the establishment of the District Matters Co-ordination Task Force. The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, will lead a number of bureaux and departments to enhance the overall environmental hygiene and cityscape in Hong Kong and build a clean and liveable environment through broad-based community participation.

     The first phase of work for the Task Force is to co-ordinate the launching of a three-month clean-up campaign against hygiene black spots across the territory. In going about its work, the Task Force will harness the combined strengths of government departments and different sectors of the community, especially the network of District Services and Community Care Teams to be set up in the 18 districts. From October this year, the Task Force will review the experience gained in the first phase of work and supervise the relevant bureaux and departments to set sustainable action plans, key performance indicators and a system for evaluating the effectiveness of their measures. The Task Force will also commence work on promoting improvement to the cityscape, such as beautifying public space, improving street furniture, and enhancing the city landscape and the community streetscape.

     Mr Cheuk said, "For environmental hygiene issues that involve the remits of different departments, the Task Force will tackle the issues at root, especially in clarifying the respective departmental responsibilities, rationalising procedures and consolidating government efforts. Our goal is to establish a standard mode of operation for relevant departments to handle similar issues in an efficient and effective manner henceforth.
 
     "Following the principle of aggregating forces that can be combined and solving problems together, we will invite participation from district organisations including non-governmental organisations, volunteer networks, owners' corporations, area committees and the environment and education sectors, as well as the network of District Services and Community Care Teams to be set up."

     The Task Force is led by the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, with the Environment and Ecology Bureau as the main driving party and the participation of many bureaux and departments. Other bureaux and departments will be invited to join the Task Force as and when necessary.

     The first meeting of the working group will be held next week.

Ends/Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Issued at HKT 20:26

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