Hong Kong’s new renovation monitoring body will encourage legitimate consultants and contractors previously plagued by intimidation from bid-rigging syndicates to return to the market, industry representatives have said, potentially lowering costs for homeowners in the long run.
Renovation and construction sector players said on Monday that the new Building Maintenance Support and Services Council, headed by Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, would heighten scrutiny of the tendering process, especially through integrity and background checks by law enforcement to ensure only law-abiding, qualified firms enter the market.
Kenny Tse Chi-kin, vice-president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, said the new council would sustainably restore order to the building maintenance market and attract more legitimate consultants and contractors in the long term.