A senior official has walked the length of Hong Kong Island to inspect the streets as part of a government clean-up campaign, remarking that the situation had improved with few sightings of overflowing bins and roadside rubbish.
Warner Cheuk, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he and his colleagues had travelled 21 kilometres on foot from Shau Kei Wan to Kennedy Town. The journey took around four and a half hours, he said.
The streets he toured included Hennessy Road in Wan Chai, Java Road in North Point and Queensway in Admiralty.
“In particular, I must praise the Food and Environmental Health Department (FEHD) staff in the Eastern District,” Cheuk wrote.
“Shau Kei Wan Main Street East and King’s Road were extremely clean. The hygiene [conditions] of the alleys were also very good,” he said. “It is not easy to achieve this result. I would happily give Eastern District eight out of 10 points.”
The government launched a campaign to tackle over 600 hygiene black spots to “beautify” public spacec in August. The citywide programme marked one of Hong Kong leader John Lee’s initiatives when he took office earlier this year.
The campaign saw authorities step up daily cleaning at wet markets, pedestrian subways, public toilets and other locations, as well as boost rodent control.
Cheuk posted dozens of pictures of him looking at drain covers, dried paint stains on pavements and mottled street signs.
In accompanying captions for photos of Chun Yeung Street in North Point and Bowrington Road in Wan Chai, both of which have a concentration of market stalls, Cheuk said the situation of stalls’ goods overflowing onto the streets remained serious.
Other areas which Cheuk said could use better cleaning efforts included Queen’s Road East in Wan Chai, the Olympic Bridge in Causeway Bay and Electric Road in North Point.
The government official’s post attracted derision from some Facebook users, who said Cheuk’s pictures made the cleanliness situation look better than it actually was.
Beneath a photo of styrofoam containers, cardboard boxes and baskets piled on a street near the market on Bowrington Road, one comment read: “Next time try going to [Bowrington Road] after work, at around 6 or 7 p.m. You wouldn’t even be able to see the Bowrington Road sign.”
Others accused Cheuk of putting on a PR show.
Cheuk said he and his team would conduct another inspection in Kowloon this Sunday, but called the location “confidential at this time.”
Hong Kong’s streets are maintained by cleaners employed directly by the FEHD as well as those working for contractors employed by the department. A combined workforce of about 13,200 are tasked with street sweeping, waste collection and other cleansing work in the city.
Almost half of workers in the cleaning services industry earn less than HK$44 an hour. The city’s minimum wage of HK$37.50 has remained unchanged since 2019.
