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BACKGROUND
Lack of
maintenance of slopes and retaining walls
(collectively referred to as slopes in this Note)
is a major contributory factor to many landslides
in Hong Kong. Many slope failures might have been
avoided if owners of the slopes had taken action
to inspect and maintain them.
Regular maintenance of slopes is necessary to
keep slopes safe, just like a motor car which
needs servicing. If no maintenance is carried
out, conditions of a slope will deteriorate.
Slope repair works are necessary when slopes have
deteriorated to a situation which is beyond
maintenance and which becomes dangerous or liable
to become dangerous .
Lot owners are responsible for slope repair
works, slope inspection and slope maintenance.
This responsibility covers slopes within the
owned lots, plus slopes and adjoining land if it
was cut into or formed as part of the
development, if it could pose a potential hazard
to the development, or as otherwise specified in
the lease conditions.
Private owners are required by law to carry out
the necessary slope repair works. Under Section
27A of the Buildings Ordinance, a Dangerous
Hillside Order or DH Order may be served on slope
owners to carry out the required works, if the
slopes within their lots under their
responsibility, are found to be dangerous or
liable to become dangerous . Situations which are
not considered dangerous but which are of concern
are dealt with by the issue of an Advisory
Letter.
This Note concerns the engagement of geotechnical
specialists to comply with the requirements of
the DH Order. It does not cover the engagement of
Authorised Persons (AP)/Registered Contractor
(RC) to comply with the administrative
requirements of the Buildings Ordinance and
Regulations. An extract of the brief note by the
Buildings Department on how to select AP and RC
is given in Appendix A.
DH Orders are served by the Building Authority
(BA), at the recommendation of the Geotechnical
Engineering Office (GEO) of the Civil Engineering
Department (CED).
A DH Order will be served in two stages. In the
first stage, owners are required to carry out an
investigation and submit slope works proposals to
the BA for approval. Depending on the scale of
works, private owners are normally given two
months to initiate the investigation and three to
six months to conduct the investigation and
report to the BA. On approving to such proposals,
another Order may be served in the second stage
for the owners to carry out such works within a
specified time.
If owners do not carry out the investigation by
the date specified in the first Order, the BA may
carry out the investigation and any subsequent
works as default works and may recover the costs
plus supervision charges from the owners, under
Sections 32A & 33 of the Buildings Ordinance.
The BA may also prosecute any person who fails to
comply with the Order without a reasonable excuse
under Section 40(1B) of the Buildings Ordinance.
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