Source: Hong Kong Information Services
The Government announced today that the Lands Department (LandsD), the Civil Engineering & Development Department (CEDD) and the Buildings Department (BD) will strengthen safety management with regard to private man-made slopes.
This follows the publication of a report on investigations by the Office of The Ombudsman into the Government’s work in relation to slope maintenance.
In response to the Ombudsman’s observations and recommendations, the Government highlighted that the three departments have already proactively introduced and implemented a number of improvement measures.
They will now further strengthen safety management in relation to private man-made slopes through four approaches, namely determining maintenance responsibility; safety screening; enforcement and rectification; and inter-departmental collaboration.
In terms of clarifying responsibility, the Government stressed that since the second half of 2025 such determinations with regard to newly formed or modified man-made slopes can generally be completed within six months, representing a significant improvement in efficiency.
Going forward, in addition to uploading determination results to the Slope Maintenance Responsibility Information System, the LandsD will notify private owners concerned promptly.
In cases already determined, the LandsD will issue notification letters to private owners concerned in batches, with the first batch expected to be issued in phases starting from the second half of this year.
Regarding safety screening, starting from last year the CEDD has been progressively increasing the number of safety screening studies for private slopes from 100 to 130 per year over a three-year period.
The department will also launch the Smart Slope Catalogue this year. This catalogue integrates records of preventive works, maintenance, rainfall, and landslides, and applies artificial intelligence to analyse data and select slopes for safety screening studies with higher precision.
Furthermore, the department will step up public education and technical support for owners.
Additionally, it will accelerate the issuance of repair orders and follow-up on compliance. For cases that are clear in nature and relatively simple, the BD has shortened the target time for issuing repair orders to three months.
If a slope is found to pose an imminent danger, the BD will immediately arrange for government contractors to carry out emergency works.
To assist owners in complying with repair orders, after issuing a repair order the BD will arrange site inspections with owners to provide explanations, attend owners’ meetings to offer technical advice, and introduce financial support schemes such as the Building Safety Loan Scheme.
The Development Bureau has also proposed amendments to the Buildings Ordinance to increase penalties for non-compliance, and plans to submit a bill to the Legislative Council for consideration by the end of this year.
In addition, the BD is exploring ways to optimise the Building Condition Information System to enable classification of complex cases, with progress being monitored via regular meetings and various committees.
The BD will continue to work with the CEDD and LandsD to establish a regular mechanism for information sharing and follow-up, and will discuss follow-up actions at co-ordination meetings.
Furthermore, the BD will compile a list of frequently encountered issues and difficulties in complex cases to enhance communication with industry practitioners and improve the efficiency of the approval process.
For cases of non-compliance with no substantive progress, the BD will, while taking prosecution action, arrange to carry out default works at slopes which pose immediate safety risks.
Through proactive intervention by the BD, the number of default works cases increased significantly from 22 in 2023 to 40 in 2024 and 66 in 2025. Over the past five years, default works have been completed for more than 150 repair orders, with full cost recovery from the owners.
In addition, the LandsD is liaising with the BD to optimise the handling procedures for owners and their appointed professionals to enter government land to carry out works.
The LandsD plans to introduce new arrangements, such as providing the application form and guidelines to owners when they have been issued with a Dangerous Hillside Order, so that repair works on private slopes can commence as soon as possible.
In terms of strengthening inter-departmental collaboration, the LandsD has joined a high-level working group and regular meeting mechanisms previously established by the CEDD and BD to strengthen tripartite collaboration, swiftly resolve complex cases and disputes over rights and responsibilities, and ensure that essential slope repairs or emergency works are not delayed by such disputes.
The LandsD established a new inter-departmental online platform in December 2025, enabling departments to exchange views in real-time on the content of determination reports after these being uploaded by consultancy firms.
The departments will also continue to co-operate with the property management industry. Besides encouraging property management companies to help owners co-ordinate slope maintenance and comply with Dangerous Hillside Orders, they will organise briefing sessions on technical guidelines, seminars, and exhibitions to strengthen public education and professional support.