Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Buildings Department (BD) expressed grave concern today (May 21) regarding the arrests made by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) at a construction site at Anderson Road on suspicion of offering and accepting advantages. The BD emphasised that illegal or non-compliant behaviours would not be tolerated. The BD has been actively co-operating with the ICAC’s investigation, including providing information and assisting in evidence collection and enforcement action. As the investigation is still on-going, the BD will not comment on the details of the case.
The main contractor involved is a registered general building contractor (RGBC) under the Buildings Ordinance (BO). Apart from assisting in the ICAC’s investigation, the BD is also conducting an investigation on the quality of works at the subject site under the BO. The BD received a report in August last year alleging that the steel reinforcements of some structural elements in the superstructure works of six blocks of residential buildings being carried out at the site had not been installed in accordance with the standards under the BO. The BD took the matter very seriously and deployed its staff to the site for inspection four times in September last year. It was found that the number of steel reinforcements installed at some beams was less than that required in the approved plans. The BD thus served an order under section 23 of the BO ordering the cessation of works for the entire site in October last year. The BD subsequently deployed its staff to carry out site inspections on many occasions, conducted interviews and collected project information from the project registered structural engineer (RSE) and registered contractor (RC), including requiring open-up of concrete at various locations of the superstructure works of the six buildings to determine whether the quantity, distribution, position, and size of the steel reinforcements complied with the plans, as well as testing the strength of the concrete.