Disturbed by MTRC's silence
It has been five months since Highways Department spokesman Lucy Ho Sau-ping responded through these columns to my letter about overgrown and poorly maintained slopes in Quarry Bay ('Concentrate on life-saving slope maintenance', South China Morning Post, May 30).
Ms Ho said the responsibility for maintaining the slopes near Wah Shun Gardens was that of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation. She said my complaint would be brought to the attention of the MTRC and the appropriate government department would be asked to monitor the situation.
Well, I can say to Ms Ho and the MTRC that nothing has been done. Not only are the slopes still overgrown and poorly maintained, but the summer rains have given the drainage channels a new lush green cover of vegetation.
The fact my letter has been ignored by the MTRC is a concern. But what worries me more is MTRC's laissez-faire attitude to slope maintenance. There must be hundreds of slopes the MTRC has a statutory duty to maintain, but nothing appears to get done.
I would like to ask: How many slopes the MTRC is meant to maintain? Does the MTRC have a slope-maintenance policy? What government monitoring is there to ensure the MTRC maintains slopes? The non-existent response to Ms Ho's letter suggests: the MTRC has no slope-repair programme; the relevant government departments trust that the MTRC is doing something, but are living in blissful ignorance that nothing is being done. In other words, three of the criteria for an accident waiting to happen.
KEITH WALLIS North Point
