Opinion | Crumbling buildings show Hong Kong needs to focus on important safety issues

Incidents of concrete falling from buildings in Mong Kok are just the latest symptom of the neglect shown towards property maintenance

Unsafe, unauthorised building works are out of control, and the government should deal with those problems rather than tearing up Fanling golf course

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The Po On Building in Mong Kok is seen with scaffolding and protective nets on July 6. A rash of incidents of concrete and other parts of buildings falling onto pedestrians and into roads has refocused attention on building maintenance in Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse

Published: 4:30pm, 30 Jul 2023Updated: 7:27pm, 30 Jul 2023

Two months ago, I received a statutory notice from the Buildings Department about the security door at the rear entrance to my flat. This was something of a surprise as at no time in the quarter of a century since I bought the flat has there been any modification to that door.

Nonetheless, since someone had gone to the trouble of issuing a statutory notice, including the usual range of dire threats – huge fines, long prison sentences and so on – I thought it best to go and look.

The problem with the door was immediately obvious. It was one of the old-fashioned outward-opening ones, presumably installed decades ago by a previous owner, which might be hazardous in the event of fire because opening it would block the small rear lobby.

The door was illegal and would have to go. A quick call to the contractor got the old door removed, a new, safe one ordered and installed and a progress report filed with the Buildings Department. All this was done within six weeks. All well and good, then, with just a lingering doubt in one’s own mind about how lucky we all were to have survived so many years in a potentially dangerous situation.

It seems that not everyone is as scrupulous and prompt in dealing with such matters. Earlier this month, concrete fell from a Mong Kok building twice within three days, causing injury to people in a parked vehicle on the first occasion and road blockage on the second. There have since been cases involving other buildings.

Buildings Department staff inspect debris on the road outside the Po On Building on July 5. Photo: Jelly Tse

In the days that followed, media reports revealed an alarming situation. First, the Buildings Department had issued a mandatory inspection order for the building in 2014. Eventually, an authorised person was appointed to carry out a survey and draw up a report on the remedial works that needed to be carried out.

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