Hong Kong ombudsman to investigate actions taken against unauthorised developments after receiving 30 complaints over 3 years
- Planning and lands departments receive about 1,500 complaints about unauthorised developments every year
- Without timely rectification, these irregularities could be detrimental to social development and even the ecosystem, Ombudsman Winnie Chiu says
Hong Kong’s Ombudsman on Thursday said she would investigate the planning and lands departments’ law enforcement actions against unauthorised developments after receiving complaints.
Ombudsman Winnie Chiu Wai-yin said the Planning Department identified hundreds of unauthorised development cases every year, some of which fell under different divisions or occurred in conservation zones.
She said the watchdog had received 30 related complaints over the past three years, reflecting public concern about the topic.
The watchdog’s preliminary inquiry revealed that the two departments received about 1,500 complaints involving unauthorised developments annually. Hundreds were confirmed to be non-compliant cases, including repeat ones.
Cases involving both government and private land required the planning and lands departments to collaborate, the Ombudsman added.
“Without timely rectification, these irregularities could be detrimental to social development and even the ecosystem,” Chiu said.
The Ombudsman investigation would focus on the two departments’ collaboration in handling such unauthorised land development and examine whether the existing mechanism was effective in curbing these cases and relevant complaints.