Govt urged to handle tree complaints faster
Ombudsman Winnie Chiu on Thursday urged the authorities to be more proactive when it comes to tree management and to explore ways to handle complaints faster.  Chiu said 24,000 tree complaints were received via the government's 1823 hotline between 2018 and October 2022, and dozens of complainants only received a reply after more than three months.  In one case, it took the Lands Department more than a year to respond to a report about the risk of falling trees.  Announcing the results of a direct investigation, Chiu said there were several areas for improvement. "We found that the problems in the past relate to both the delay and also the disputes among departments, as well as the supervision of the contractor's performance," she said. "The Lands Department should accord sufficient importance to the work of tree management and have a systematic approach in terms of tree management and complaints about trees."  Currently, the Tree Management Office steps in when various government departments fail to agree on who is responsible for handling a complaint. But Chiu said it should intervene at an earlier stage, requiring departments to set a deadline for responding to a complaint. In response, the Development Bureau said it has taken improvement measures based on the Ombudsman's recommendations, such as requiring tree management departments to respond to complaints within 14 working days.