Page 97 - URA Annual Report 2020-21

Measures to Promote Transparency of Work
In line with the spirit of the Urban Renewal Strategy, the URA holds a large variety of public engagement activities such as exhibitions, surveys, public forums and workshops from time to time to gather community stakeholders’ views on the planning and design of urban regeneration projects. Open briefing sessions are held for owners, tenants and other stakeholder groups upon the commencement of urban redevelopment projects and after the respective acquisition offers have been made. To enhance the wider community’s understanding of the work of the URA, we also speak at relevant seminars, conferences and meetings of professional and other organisations, and give briefing sessions to secondary schools.
We value our partnerships with local communities in undertaking renewal work in old urban areas. We regularly brief the relevant District Councils on the progress of URA projects. We have established five District Advisory Committees comprising representatives of the local communities including district councillors, affected owners/ tenants and district organisations to advise on community needs and aspirations with respect to urban renewal and to enhance community understanding of the URA’s work in the districts concerned.
Corporate decisions and issues discussed by the Board are briefed to the media via management representatives from time to time. These interactive media sessions, together with other media interviews throughout the year, seek to promote better understanding of the mission and role of the URA and the rationale and objectives of its work.
The URA’s website serves as a primary electronic platform to communicate to the public about any salient corporate development and the status of various projects and activities undertaken by URA in a timely manner. Bilingual press statements issued on important occasions or after major events and e-newsletters are both accessible from the URA’s website.
As a further measure to publicise our work and decisions, the Board has since February 2009 adopted the practice of uploading bilingual summaries of confirmed minutes of Board meetings to the URA’s website. These summaries cover the numbers of Board members and management representatives in attendance, the agenda items discussed and the Board’s resolutions.
To increase the transparency of our redevelopment work, URA has, with effect from June 2010, begun the practice of disclosing annually to the Legislative Council’s Panel on Development the financial results of the redevelopment projects completed in previous years.
Moreover, the URA is committed to providing an efficient service in the handling of public enquiries, requests and complaints. According to our performance pledge, we strive to respond to public enquires, requests and complaints within the following standard times.
Enquiries Requests Complaints
Standard Response Time
Within 1 working day Within 5 working days Within 14 working days
Maximum Response Time (for complicated cases)
Within 5 working days Within 14 working days Within 30 working days
In the year 2020/21, the URA has handled a total of 34,691 cases including enquiries, requests and complaints. All cases were addressed and replied within the response time as pledged.
To facilitate people of different languages and culture to access its public services, the URA has taken appropriate and practicable supportive measures. Leaflets on acquisition and compensation / rehousing information were translated into Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese and uploaded to the URA’s website. The URA also introduced a real-time three-way telephone interpretation service (in Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese) provided by the Centre for Harmony and Enhancement of Ethnic Minority Residents (CHEER) to answer enquiries from service users of different languages. Language Identification Card prepared by the CHEER is available in the reception areas / counters of URA offices and service centres to facilitate communication with service users of different languages.
URA ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21 93
Corporate Governance