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Following is a question by the Hon CHAN Kam-lam and a reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward YAU, JP,¡@(in the absence of the Secretary¡@for Transport and Housing) in the Legislative Council today (28 November):
Question:
It has been reported that the contractor carrying out inspection works for Chung On Estate was recently found to have poked iron bars into the holes on the external walls of the buildings, intending to fake the exposure of reinforcement steel so as to defraud fees on maintenance works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it has discovered similar cases in the inspection works carried out in other public housing estates;
(b) it will comprehensively review all the works undertaken or being undertaken by the contractor to see if any fraudulent acts have taken place; and
(c) it will impose heavier penalties on defrauding contractors as a warning to others?
Reply:
Madam President,
To prepare for the external wall re-decoration works for Ma On Shan Chung On Estate in early 2008, it is necessary to carry out external wall maintenance works for all the buildings of the Estate. The Shatin district term contract maintenance contractor (the contractor) is responsible for the maintenance works, while the property management company (the management company) engaged by the Housing Department (HD) is responsible for supervising the maintenance works, including examining the external walls to ascertain the scope of the maintenance works, approving materials to be used, conducting procedure supervision and acceptance inspection, etc. The HD has put in place detailed guidelines and procedures for the strict compliance and execution by the management company, in order to ensure the quality of the maintenance works.
According to the plan, the contractor commenced the external wall maintenance works at the end of October 2007 for completion in January 2008. At 3 p.m. on 3 November 2007, the management company received a report from residents of Chung On Estate, and found that workers of the contractor had, in the absence of the management company¡¦s consent and supervision, conducted external wall maintenance works on their own and without reason, poked steel rods into the excavated external walls. As the incident may involve an attempt to defraud the HD of works fees, the HD and the management company have referred the case to the Police on 7 November 2007 for investigation and follow-up actions.
My reply to the three-part question is as follows :
(a) According to the HD¡¦s information, similar incidents have not been found in other housing estates in the territory.
(b) The HD has immediately stopped the external wall maintenance works undertaken by the contractor in Chung On Estate and asked the contractor and the management company to submit reports to fully explain the incident.
Moreover, the HD has set up an investigation team to check the information regarding other completed external wall inspection works undertaken by the contractor in Chung On Estate. The team will also review the external wall maintenance works records, list of registered workers, works expenses, etc. in relation to the previous HD contracts undertaken by the contractor, to ascertain whether similar incidents have occurred. If it is established that there have been cases of non-compliance, the HD will take appropriate disciplinary actions and request the Police to take follow-up actions if criminal conduct is involved.
(c) The HD has put in place a well-established system to penalize works contractors in case of non-compliance with regulations, including suspension from tendering, termination of works contracts and removal from the HD List of Building Contractors, etc. Cases suspected of involving criminal conduct or corruption will be reported to the Police or the Independent Commission Against Corruption for follow-up.
In this case, the contractor has been suspended by the HD from tendering for building works until the investigation is completed, and the relevant information has also been referred to the Police for investigation.
Ends/Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:31
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