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External sources (not reviewed)

In fact, we often hear news about buildings becoming dangerous buildings because of jerry-building by developers in an attempt to lower cost.

I hope that today's motion will make the industry realize that our society will not tolerate further short piling and jerrybuilding scandals.

However, we should emphasize the need to establish an effective regulatory mechanism as support, so that the system would not be abused by unscrupulous businessmen and to prevent further cases of jerry-building because of low price.

The Housing Department should promptly review whether the existing supervisory measures are adequate and step up prosecutions against contractors who scamp work and stint material so as to protect residents' basic interests.

The key to this is that the departments and persons with the power to award public works contracts have not considered at all that contractors can only make up for the lack of profit or even losses by leaving the works unfinished or by jerry-building.

But because contractors have to undertake all the risks and there is no reasonable mechanism in the contract for a due fee increase, they are often forced to act recklessly and cut corners.

Take the Yuen Chau Kok Incident as an example, the Report stated that the tender price was very low but the staff in charge of tender had not examined it, and the Government did not have to pay more even though the piling costs had increased sharply as a result of particular geological difficulties.

Hence the first one who should be held responsible should be the Director of Housing, but since the HA is theoretically above the HD, which is vested with the major power of making decisions on public housing, the Chairman of the HA too could hardly exonerate herself.

First, the market is no more a strong brand, no brand competition; Second, not all manufacturers and merchants to set up stable cooperative relationship, no access dispute; Third, the market most of circulation are common products, technology content is low, the product differences between low and no product differentiation in the market and technology dispute; price competition means a single, low-price market operation should be the business formed after the formation of large-scale production cost advantages and can ensure product quality, and most enterprises have no brand without a high market share, no large-scale production, high cost, can only cut corners, so there are shoddy, the same price competition in different brands.

[...] [...] shoddy construction work, are bound to occur [...]

Madam President, after the DAB found that construction works by the HA were shoddy with inferior materials used, it had met and discussed the issue with those in the engineering sector.

The short-piling scam is appalling. As legislators, we must drive home the message that the Government is duty-bound to find out the truth of the incidents and who is to be responsible to deter any further cases of shoddy work that endanger people's lives.

As a number of colleagues pointed out today, one of the reasons that the earthquake in Sichuan has wreaked horrific havoc was that there was corruption.

The Housing Authority must monitor the developers more closely in the course of construction to ensure that developers do not work shoddily and use inferior materials and that the quality of flats will not be affected by problems relating to the skills of the workers.

I cannot foretell whether apart from the nine cases mentioned just now, more would be coming, but one thing for sure is that the top level of both the HA and the Housing Department (HD) genuinely did not learn the lesson, otherwise the scandals of short piles as well as inferior workmanship and construction materials would not have taken place within the same area in Tung Chung in just a matter of two years.

[...] [...] years and the First Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on Building Problems of Public Housing Units, I deeply feel that the blunders in the housing policies of the Government and the improper management system of the HD have caused the series of short pile incidents and incidents of shoddy work and the use of inferior materials.

Many examples have shown that after winning the bids with low prices, some companies with a good track record would leave the works unfinished because of their own financial problems or cut corners to "turn losses into gains".

Madam President, why is it that cases of delay, failure of completion and jerry-building seldom occur in relation to commercial projects, while cases of substandard construction frequently occur in relation to public works contracts awarded by the Government?

The consequent short piles, shoddy work and use of inferior materials obliged the Government to demolish the problematic blocks, causing the public to bear very serious losses [...]

Although the lowest price offer might not necessarily result in inferior works quality, an excessively low tender price might induce contractors to deliver shoddy work and use inferior materials or carry out substandard works.

[...] e-learning programme on the smuggling of migrants, was developed [...] [...]

[...] [...] over human rights, especially as far as victims of smuggling and trafficking and irregular migrants are concerned; [...] [...]

[...] [...] Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols to [...] [...]

[...] [...] Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect [...] [...]

[...] prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air requires a comprehensive approach, at the national, regional and international levels, and to that end, urged all States to adopt effective measures, inter alia, protecting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of smuggled migrants, especially [...] [...]

The net decrease reflects reductions under most objects of expenditure, including $242,800 under consultants, mainly as a consequence of the increased use of in-house expertise, where possible; $104,700 under experts, resulting mainly from concerted efforts to combine meetings or reduce the number of experts and the duration of meetings, whenever possible; $121,200 under travel of staff, mainly attributable to increased utilization of video conferencing, combining trips and/or reducing the duration of travel as much as possible; $460,800 under contractual services, primarily owing to increased utilization of electronic means of disseminating publications; $111,000 under furniture and equipment, reflecting reduced requirements for the replacement of furniture and office equipment resulting from extending the lifespan of furniture and equipment; and $781,600 under grants and contributions, mainly owing to the termination of the contract with the International Computing Centre.

Specific activities that assisted countries in relation to terrorism targeted at food products included: (a) capacity-building (training courses, projects) concerning food safety, animal and plant health, including promotion of risk analyses and developing base-level capacity to ensure national ability to monitor, diagnose, report and respond to pest and disease outbreaks; (b) the standard setting work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the International Plant Protection Convention; (c) the establishment of a Food Chain Crisis Management Framework for prevention, early warning, preparedness and response to food chain crises caused by transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases, food safety threats and emergencies, as well as nuclear and radiological threats and emergencies; and the organization of international forums to discuss biological risk management in relation to food and agriculture.