I refer to the speech made by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, to the British Chamber of Commerce on October 14, and to the subsequent response by Dr Raymond Ho (South China Morning Post, October 15) describing Mrs Chan's criticism of professionals in the construction industry as 'unfair and lacking understanding of the industry'. We fully echo Dr Ho's remark that a recent piling problem has nothing to do with our professional standards. We also want to point out that site supervisors are not qualified building professionals - a point with regard to which many members of the public have the wrong perception. The shortcomings of individual site supervisors should not be confused with the overall standards of construction professionals in general. We always try hard to maintain high standards of professional ethics. We consider it desirable for the Government and the Housing Department to raise the supervisory level of both foundation and building works by engaging full-time professionals on site. Full-time site supervision by professionals is a common arrangement practised in civil engineering works. We also support the idea of licensing/registration of site supervisors so as to improve their supervisory accountability. Given the high degree of mobility of site supervisors for consultancy projects, the licensing system could ensure better control of the quality of supervision of these building non-professionals. IP SHING-TIM Hon Secretary The Government Local Civil Engineers' Association
