Hong Kong will never be completely safe from landslides, government official says
Efforts to make the city's slopes safer will never completely eliminate the risk of dangerous landslides, a senior official with the office responsible for slope upkeep said.
Efforts to make the city's slopes safer will never completely eliminate the risk of dangerous landslides, a senior official with the office responsible for slope upkeep said.
Au Yeung Yan-sang made the comments as he released new figures showing the extent of the government's work to make slopes safer - and revealed a lack of cooperation by some private landowners that would make the job tougher.
He was speaking at a press conference on the work of the Geotechnical Engineering Office as the city's rainy season begins and the landslide risk increases markedly.
"We are controlling the risk to as low as reasonably practicable … Is it reasonable to carry out upgrading works on all slopes? It would depend on resources and efficiency," said Au Yeung, the deputy director of the office.
Among the tools at the office's disposal are Dangerous Hillside Orders, which are issued to the owners of private slopes, ordering them to take action to make the area safe.
Au Yeung revealed that 740 such orders were outstanding and had not been acted upon. In 20 per cent of cases, the deadline for carrying out the work had passed and the Buildings Department had taken action.
"After the order is issued, if the owner fails to comply with it within a set time, the Buildings Department will carry out the safety works on their behalf and recover all the costs later," Au Yeung said.
Some 13 private slopes were identified as being at risk last year, Au Yeung said. The office inspects about 100 private manmade slopes per year.
He said some 11,000 slopes - both government-owned and private - had been improved after they were found to be at high risk in the past 35 years.
The office is now turning its attention to some 17,000 slopes that are close to roads.
It will also carry out risk-mitigation work on 40 natural hillsides each year.
Mitigation work on the hillsides above Conduit Road and Po Shan Road in Central and Western District was the latest to be completed.
Among other work, 10 rows of flexible steel barriers and three rigid concrete barriers were installed to prevent rocks from falling during the wet season. The cost of the whole project was about HK$120 million.
And the work shows signs of having an effect. Some 237 landslides were recorded last year - below the average of 300 cases per year for the past 25 years.
But Au Yeung expressed concern that extreme weather as a result of climate change would lead to more serious landslides.
