HONG KONG – The city’s ombudsman on Thursday urged government agencies to take more stringent measures against unauthorized land developers, particularly repeat offenders.

Ombudsman Jack Chan Jick-chi said the Planning Department (PlanD) should progressively shorten the timeframe for compliance with enforcement notices for repeat violators “to raise offenders' costs of non-compliance proportionately”.

He added that the Lands Department (LandsD) should also comprehensively review its existing guidelines and put in place a monitoring mechanism after some priority cases were not dealt with in a timely manner.

“Overall, the office considers that both the PlanD and the LandsD have handled unauthorized development cases according to their purview and statutory powers; however, there is still room for improvement regarding enforcement procedures and intensity,” Chan said.

He said both department should also establish a database for unauthorized development cases to facilitate interdepartmental intelligence sharing and enforcement, and formulate targeted measures for "high-risk sites to nip problems in the bud”.

From 2018 to 2023, the PlanD received an annual average of 1,680 complaints about unauthorized developments, Chan said.

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During the same period, combining complaints, proactive inspections and referrals from other departments, it identified an annual average of 425 unauthorized development cases involving private land.

The department issued an annual average of more than 3,000 statutory notices demanding rectification. Chan said their compliance rate ranged from 69 percent to 88 percent between 2018 and 2023, reflecting the “deterrent effect of the PlanD's existing enforcement measures against most offenders”.

"Looking ahead, as the current-term government actively implements various land development projects, land use in the rural New Territories will undergo vast changes,” Chan said.

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He said unauthorized developments may differ in mode and scale and the two departments should conduct a systemic review after the implementation of the various improvement measures.

“The two departments should also adapt to the circumstances, continuously deepen reform and innovate, and improve the operational mechanisms and collaboration to strengthen their ability to prevent and handle unauthorized developments," Chan said.