Hong Kong contractors rated poorly by homeowners face removal after Tai Po fire

Hong Kong authorities may remove building maintenance contractors from a government list if homeowners are dissatisfied with their performance, as part of measures to combat bid-rigging following the deadly Tai Po fire, the city’s No 2 official has said. Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok‑ki said on Saturday that the government aimed to improve the Urban Renewal Authority’s “Smart Tender” scheme by establishing a preselected list of qualified contractors. The scheme provides support to owners’ organisations through an electronic tendering platform for procuring consultants and contractors to carry out building maintenance works. Owners applying for government maintenance subsidies must accept consultants and contractors assigned by the authority. Chan said authorities would conduct surveys among homeowners to assess the performance of listed firms. “We will conduct a survey to ask homeowners if they are satisfied with the work. If they are, the contractors will remain on the list, and if they are not satisfied and have complaints, we will investigate,” he told a radio programme. “If the complaint is valid and they are indeed not doing a good job, we will remove them from the list.” Chan noted that investigations into bid-rigging following the deadly fire in November revealed that some consultant firms hired by homeowners for maintenance projects had colluded with contractors, allowing bids to be won at unusually low prices. He said the new measures could help combat bid-rigging. “High profits create a strong incentive for people to do it,” Chan said. “Such crimes are like cancer cells that will change. We will monitor them.” Authorities earlier pledged to plug policy gaps exposed by the Tai Po inferno during the first meeting of the new Legislative Council term. The measures include tightening oversight of maintenance project tenders, raising homeowner voting thresholds and imposing a smoking ban at construction sites. Chief Executive John Lee Ka‑chiu said the Wang Fuk Court blaze – the city’s deadliest fire in decades, which killed 168 people – had laid bare the need to reform industry practices and the regulatory system, stressing the urgency of “breaking down vested interests”. Among a series of proposals was an expanded role for the Urban Renewal Authority in private building maintenance projects to curb bid-rigging. One suggested measure was a revamp of the authority’s “Smart Tender” platform. Service providers wishing to be hired through the platform will be subject to criminal and disciplinary record checks. If changes to the scope of work could lead to increased costs, consultants and contractors would also be required to report them to authorities. Other proposals under consideration include amending the voting mechanism for homeowners, such as increasing the threshold for the proportion of owners who must be physically present to vote on major maintenance projects from the current 5 per cent to 10 per cent or more, depending on project costs. The government is also planning to reform the current proxy voting system by introducing a cap on the number of proxy instruments a single person could hold, according to authorities. Following the Tai Po blaze, the government also announced plans to strengthen health and safety measures in the construction industry, including a blanket ban on smoking at construction sites. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk‑han said on Saturday that the government expected to submit the amendment to Legco early next month. “I believe the Legislative Council will cooperate with us and deliberate it quickly. We will implement it as soon as the deliberation finishes,” he said. He noted that the maximum penalty for breaching the ban would be a fine of HK$150,000 (US$19,233) for workers and HK$400,000 for employers. Both main contractors and subcontractors will be liable for fines. Sun said that even if inspectors did not catch anyone smoking on site, the presence of discarded cigarette butts or workers smelling strongly of smoke could prompt an investigation into whether the site had implemented adequate preventive measures. He added that social workers had contacted all 1,982 households affected by the Wang Fuk Court fire, except for two. Those in the other two were confirmed as deceased or had left Hong Kong. The inferno on November 26 tore through seven of the eight blocks of Wang Fuk Court, which had been under renovation. Subsequent investigations found that some samples of the scaffold nets covering the buildings had failed fire-retardant tests and that flammable foam panels were used to seal flat windows, raising concerns about supervision of the renovation project. Additional reporting by Vivian Au

Hong Kong contractors rated poorly by homeowners face removal after Tai Po fire

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chief Secretary Eric Chan outlines reforms to ‘Smart Tender’ scheme, including homeowner surveys and stricter oversight to combat bid-rigging

Chief Secretary Eric Chan outlines reforms to ‘Smart Tender’ scheme, including homeowner surveys and stricter oversight to combat bid-rigging