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City to scrub up for New Year

The government yesterday launched a three-week cleaning campaign across the city and vowed to get tough against hygiene offences.

'To ensure cleanliness of public places, we will adopt a zero-tolerance approach to offences under the Fixed Penalty [Public Cleanliness Offences] Ordinance, including littering, feeding wild birds, spitting, illegal bill posting and dog fouling,' said a spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

The drive was aimed at providing a cleaner environment for the Lunar New Year and to tie in with the tradition of cleaning up during the period.

The department's spokesman said the 'Year-end Clean-up Operation 2005' would feature a wide range of intensive cleaning activities.

The department would step up inspections and cleaning operations at markets, cooked food centres, hawker bazaars, public toilets, public bathhouses and refuse collection points. It would also extend to streets and other public places, including more than 700 hygiene black spots, said the spokesman.

Mosquito and rodent control measures would also be implemented in all districts to reduce the risk of dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis spreading among the population.

The control measures would focus on old tenement buildings, village houses and passenger and cargo/container terminals.

It was also announced yesterday that district councils will organise a series of promotional activities to drum up local community support for the whole government cleaning exercise. And councillors will inspect district operations and assess the results.

'Only by concerted efforts across various sectors in our community can we enjoy a cleaner environment in the Year of the Rooster,' the department's spokesman said.

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