Hong Kong government overlooked hundreds of millions in money owed by developers over use of public space, ombudsman says
- City’s government watchdog launches scathing report on ‘lax and ineffective’ enforcement by Lands Department
- Report finds money was only recovered in one out of 65 cases of violation
Hong Kong authorities have overlooked hundreds of millions of dollars in money owed by big developers for using public space for commercial gain, such as placing dining tables on walkways, according to the government watchdog.
In a scathing report, the ombudsman on Tuesday called enforcement by the Lands Department “lax and ineffective”, after it was found that it only recovered money in one out of 65 cases of violation over the past five years.
“Our investigation has identified seven areas of inadequacies in the Lands Department’s handling of the problem of unauthorised use of public passages and atria in private malls for commercial purposes, including insufficient, delayed or even zero enforcement, as well as problems of information dissemination to the public,” Ombudsman Winnie Chiu Wai-yin said.
Under the current policy, owners of private malls who intend to hold commercial activities at public passages or atria provided under the land lease have to apply for a waiver from the department.
If the mall owner does not comply even after the department discovers a breach, authorities are entitled to recover a waiver fee of up to six years dating back to the first day the violation was found.
The ombudsman noted that the Lands Department had found a total of 65 cases of infractions in the past five years, but only took action in one incident to recover a waiver fee of about HK$24 million for a breach that had lasted as long as 5½ years.
