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What if contractors daren't fix rickety blocks?

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It's one thing to know your building is in danger of collapse; it's another to get it fixed.

The decision of a contractor to pull out of doing repairs to an old building near the tenement that collapsed last week, killing four people, has led to fears companies are avoiding vital maintenance work because they see it as too risky.

The five-storey block at 45J Ma Tau Wai Road collapsed into rubble in a matter of seconds on January 29. Police are investigating what renovation workers were doing minutes before the block caved in.

A contractor who began repairing a tenement at 21 Kai Ming Street, two streets away, on the day of the collapse walked off the job two days later. 'I think the contractor fears this building may collapse,' said Sit Wo-sang, one of the owners who banded together to hire the company.

The contractor told them it had downed tools because some had not made the required down payment for the work.

The 53-year-old, seven-storey tenement is loaded with two illegal rooftop houses. Flats on the five upper storeys have been heavily altered with the addition of unapproved partitions and drainage systems. A Buildings Department repair order issued in December requires owners to remove loose, cracked concrete and finishes on walls and to fix new steel bars in walls. The building is 'liable to become dangerous', it says.

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