Collective supervision in Hong Kongs CK Asset Building Skandal: Experts

A bribery scandal with a 10 percent lack of steel awareness in a residential project under the real estate giant CK Asset in Hong Kong was the result of a collective and intentional supervision on the construction site, warned independent engineers.

While they described the incident as rarely, they agreed that the government should strengthen the inspection efforts on the city's construction sites.

Site supervisors are said to have accepted offers, including red packages, Mooncake vouchers and lavish meals, from a subcontractor who, after mild monitoring of entertainment construction practices, asks the building plans approved by the building department to maximize profits and save costs.

Studies showed that reinforcement poles in concrete in all six buildings were either thinner than necessary, missing, repressed or loosely arranged, which did not correspond to the approved building plans.

The number of main reinforcement rods in structural components was on average below the approved specifications. In some places in towers 1 and 2, the transfers were up to 530 mm, the probe found.