The entrepreneur had been inspired to order the machines for more than 800,000 yuan (HK$891,277) – more than double the normal price – after his own company began having trouble sourcing masks amid the city’s battle with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

The trip, he believed, had to be made to ensure he did not lose the equipment to eager mainland buyers, several of whom were on the factory floor trying to secure machines of their own when he arrived.

On Monday, the first of his two machines was delivered to Hong Kong.

“My family didn’t want me to go. But I wanted to show the factory I was sincere. I told the factory owner that Hong Kong is facing a shortage without its own mask factory like the mainland, and I hoped they could let me be the first manufacturer,” Chan said in an interview this week.

He only later realised others had managed to start production before him.

Hong Kong has seen a flurry of companies, non-profit groups and individuals jump on the surgical mask bandwagon in recent weeks as demand has severely outstripped supply.

According to the independent Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, residents do not have enough masks to last beyond 1½ months, excluding frontline medical and civil servants.

The institute has predicted local production lines will soon be producing 12 million masks per month, including reusable products, on top of 2 million to be donated.

The Post learned at least four organisations and companies would make a minimum of 45.7 million masks monthly from March. If their production lines ran for a consecutive 30 days, this would meet 15 per cent of Hong Kong’s estimated monthly demand of 300 million masks.

Another two firms and a non-profit organisation will also have machines ready by March but their daily output remained unclear.

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While others have set up productions lines in the mainland and elsewhere, Chan is among a diverse group hoping to become pioneers in producing masks locally for the long run.

One facility, dubbed Mask Factory, is being set up by a group of filmmakers, another is the brainchild of property developer New World Development.

New World vice-chairman Adrian Cheng Chi-kong said his charity foundation would make 200,000 masks a day and his company would invest HK$10 million in a new nanotechnology process for mask production.

So far, none of the three have applied for the millions of dollars in support available from a HK$1.5 billion government subsidy that is part of a HK$30 billion coronavirus relief package unveiled by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor this month.

Under the scheme, manufacturers setting up a production line capable of delivering at least 500,000 masks a month would be given up to HK$3 million. Each subsequent production line in the same plant would then be subsidised up to HK$2 million.

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The masks would need to meet American Society for Testing and Materials Level 1 standards, while the involved factory must obtain an ISO 13485 certification – an internationally agreed standard for quality management systems in the medical device industry.

However, none of the 381 interested individuals who had so far expressed interest had met the criteria, the government revealed on February 21, with most lacking the right manufacturing capabilities.

A production line typically needs at least four months to compile the documents and physical changes necessary for ISO certification, according to Florence Kong Ling, director at BPI Consultants International.

Racing to start production by mid-March, Chan said he would rather think about the subsidy later, as something that could aid long-term development. For now, speed is key.

“If I only start production after meeting the standard, then it would be too late,” he said, adding his two machines would produce 220,000 masks a day that he planned to sell at HK$1 each.

One of those behind Mask Factory, a filmmaker surnamed Tong, criticised officials for having their head in the clouds.

“If we want to do mass production to serve the general public, then adopting this ISO standard will be slow. With the standard, the quality is better. But at this moment, do we need quantity or quality?” Tong asked.

He added that the government’s subsidy had actually proved a hindrance, as some raw material suppliers, aware of the scheme, had vowed to charge higher later.

“Once everyone knows there is a party to take advantage of, they will do it,” he said.

Tong’s three partners have already forked out HK$5 million of the nearly HK$10 million needed in their production plan. They hope to have eight manufacturing lines up and running by late March, producing at least 880,000 masks a day. Each would be sold for HK$1 to HK$2.

In the long run, the plant aims to have 10 to 15 machines running, enough to handle the needs of 10 per cent of the city’s 7.5 million population.

Meanwhile, the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation, established by the late founder of property giant Sino Group, has said it would donate two fully automated machines with a total production capacity of 200,000 masks a day to the government upon their arrival in three weeks.

Well-known chemistry tutor Kenneth Kwong Si-san, mastermind of HK Mask, another new entrant to the mask-production game, is relying on innovative techniques.

When Kwong noted one of the raw materials necessary for production, “meltblown” fabric, was going for 10 times its normal price of 20,000 yuan (HK$22,000) per tonne, he asked former chemistry students who now produce air-conditioning filters to come up with a fibre that could filter particles like surgical masks.

Their creation, a reusable cotton mask with changeable filters, will eventually be produced by social enterprise Sew On Studio, while instructions will also be distributed to those hoping to make their own.

Kwong invited Japanese interpreters to his product launch last week in a bid to promote his idea to Japan, where he said many suffer from pollen allergies.

“After the epidemic, the only country with residents that always wear masks is Japan,” he said. “But to get them to wear your masks, your design has to be better than theirs. So you need an idea that they can’t think of.”

And that is something he hopes to achieve.

“I don’t want to earn money but to boost the reputation of Hong Kong design.”