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Defective sewage works
On 17 August 2023, the Ombudsman, Ms Winnie Chiu, announced at a press conference the completion of a direct investigation into the Government’s enforcement against defective sewage works of New Territories Exempted Houses (“NTEHs”) and made 10 recommendations for improvement to the Environmental Protection Department (“EPD”), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (“FEHD”) and the Lands Department (“LandsD”).
NTEHs built in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance are generally exempted from certain provisions of the Buildings Ordinance. Certificates of exemption, in respect of drainage works among other items, must be obtained from the Director of Lands before NTEHs are built. The certificate of exemption in respect of drainage works stipulates that the works should comply with the Drainage and Health Requirements for Village Type Houses. In rural areas where no public sewers are available, applicants for construction of NTEHs should build sewage disposal systems including septic tanks and soakage pits pursuant to the above requirements.
To address complaints about defective sewage works of NTEHs, EPD enforces the Water Pollution Control Ordinance from the perspective of identifying any pollution caused to the waters of Hong Kong or sewage discharged into stormwater drains; FEHD investigates the existence of any nuisance specified in the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance; LandsD takes lease enforcement action, where appropriate, after examining whether the defects are in breach of the sewage provisions in the land leases.
An investigation by the Office of The Ombudsman (the Office) found that EPD, FEHD and LandsD all have constraints in handling complaints about defective sewage works of NTEHs, resulting in their inclination to refer complaints to other departments, but they only have a limited understanding of the constraints faced by the others. As a result, complaints remain unresolved even after repeated shuffling among departments. At present, there are neither established guidelines among the departments on how to pursue this type of complaint under different scenarios, nor a mechanism for information exchange, thereby compromising the enforcement efficiency. Meanwhile, EPD and FEHD focus on whether they can enforce their respective legislation and seldom consider joint enforcement actions.
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Source: The Office of the Ombudsman of Hong Kong, China
