STATUTORY controls on energy-saving standards for new commercial buildings will be introduced early next year, legislators heard at an environmental affairs panel meeting yesterday.

Deputy Secretary for Economic Services Elizabeth Bosher said the buildings would have to comply with the standard of Overall Thermal Transfer Value (OTTV), a measure of the total energy consumption per unit area of buildings, as set out in the bill.

But Samuel Wong Ping-wai, the engineering sector representative, said such regulations would increase construction time.

Meeting Point member Leong Che-hung also pointed out that in Singapore, OTTV did not achieve the result predicted in a computer model.