99 road works combined in first three quarters of 2022

In January-September of last year the government managed to combine 99 road work projects to avoid repetitive road digging, Director Lam Hin San of the Transport Bureau (DSAT) said in response to a lawmaker’s inquiry.

The reply was made in November last year to the inquiry from lawmaker Ella Lei dated Oct. 21.

In his reply, Lam said the government had striven to minimize traffic impacts when a road was undergoing maintenance or work. One method was to combine road works required by different entities.

In addition, the bureau director cited the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) in noting that each entity would propose their respective delivery period. Each week, the IAM would coordinate the delivery period with each entity based on the nature of projects as well as the impact on nearby road network and residents.

Last year, Lam cited the IAM as saying Covid-19 restrictions and weather conditions had delayed the number of road work projects in the past few years. The IAM pledged it would work with Lam’s bureau to accelerate projects such as by extending hours worked in a day and completely shutting down the area around the road work.

Construction personnel unable to keep up with proposed schedules were asked for a written explanation. They were penalized if the IAM found their explanations unconvincing.

The IAM also said it had conducted on-site spot checks and had evaluated progress on municipal works. Where irregularities or delays had been discovered, the IAM added, the bureau would notify construction personnel at meetings, by official correspondence, or by other means as appropriate.

The IAM also said the compilation of the Executive Regulations monitoring coordination of public road works was in progress.