The Government today (August 14) officially launched the three-month Government Programme on Tackling Hygiene Black Spots. Government departments strengthen their work on tackling some 600 hygiene and street management black spots. The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, together with directors of bureaux and heads of departments inspected the work on tackling hygiene black spots in various districts.
      
     Mr Cheuk, together with the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan; the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Ms Irene Young; the Director of Home Affairs, Mrs Alice Cheung, visited a hygiene black spot at a rear lane located at Lai Chi Kok Road to observe the operations carried out by departments to clear away rubbish and articles that had been discarded there, as well as several abandoned vehicles.

     Mr Cheuk said the Government has the responsibility to maintain Hong Kong clean and hygienic. He stressed, "If the Government continues to clean up while members of the public continue to dump, we will keep reincarnating in the vicious cycle. Hong Kong is ours. Starting from today, we must clean up rubbish ourselves. Rubbish produced in Hong Kong must be cleaned up by Hongkongers. As the slogan of the 'Government Programme on Tackling Hygiene Black Spots' says - we can do it!"

     Joined by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, and the Director of Home Affairs, Mrs Alice Cheung, Mr Cheuk later inspected the vicinity of two "three-nil" buildings (i.e. buildings that do not have owners’ corporation or any form of residents’ organisation or have not engaged a property management company) in Kowloon City to look at the related environmental hygiene issues. They also went to Hung Hom Estate to look at the pilot use of a new rodent control device.

     Together with the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, and the Director of Buildings, Ms Clarice Yu, Mr Cheuk then visited Sham Shui Po to see several abandoned and defective signboards. Ms Yu said that the Buildings Department (BD) is carrying out a Planned Sign Survey in the district. It is anticipated that about 260 Dangerous Structure Removal Notices will be issued, involving some 570 dangerous or abandoned signboards, and the removal works will be completed in October.

     Under the Planned Sign Survey, a target district is selected based on factors including the density of signboards, pedestrian and vehicular flows and the number of reports on signboards. Through proactive inspections of signboards in the district and enhanced enforcement action, dangerous or abandoned signboards in the district will be removed in one go. In addition, the BD will handle dangerous or abandoned signboards in response to public reports and through large-scale operations at target street sections. It is estimated that not less than 1 700 dangerous or abandoned signboards will be removed or rectified this year.

     The Government Programme on Tackling Hygiene Black Spots has three focuses, namely: placing emphasis on tackling hygiene black spots and strengthening normal cleaning work; enhancing education and publicity, as well as community participation; and stepping up law enforcement. With the concerted efforts of the Government and members of the public, the programme aims to improve Hong Kong's urban areas and nurture a new culture of keeping the environment clean and cherishing the cityscape.

Ends/Sunday, August 14, 2022
Issued at HKT 19:47

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