By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-05 03:44:40 | Updated at 2025-01-07 00:42:24
1 day ago
Owners of a Hong Kong residential block where chunks of falling concrete injured an elderly man had failed to follow mandatory building and window inspection notices since 2020, authorities have said.
The Development Bureau publicised the lapse in a social media post on Saturday evening and also vowed to enforce the law against owners who neglected to maintain their buildings, with the relevant legislation under review to add a new offence that could result in a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a HK$300,000 fine.
“The Buildings Department issued a mandatory building inspection and window inspection notice to this building in 2020, but it has not been complied with yet,” the bureau said in its post.
“Timely maintenance and repair of private buildings is a basic responsibility of the property owners.”
Earlier at 6.13pm, a 79-year-old man was struck by pieces of concrete that fell from the building at No 76 Percival Street in the bustling Causeway Bay shopping district.
The elderly man was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai and was still there as of Saturday evening.
Police’s initial investigation indicated that a piece of concrete of about 2.1 metres by 0.2 metres (6.9 feet by 0.7 feet) was suspected to have broken off a beam of the building.
