On 14 November 2024, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI) celebrated excellence in innovation and leadership at its prestigious Young Industrialist Awards of Hong Kong (YIAH) and the Industrialist of the Year (IOY) ceremony. Mr Laurent Lam, Chairman and Group Executive Chairman of Golden Resources Development International Ltd., was honoured with the IOY Award. Leading the company celebrated for its Golden Elephant rice, Mr Lam has driven the 78-year-old business towards modernisation. His strategic innovations have solidified the company’s market leadership and exemplified the spirit of industrial transformation.
The event also celebrated six exceptional young industrialists with the conferment of YIAH. The honourees included Mr Billy Chu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MDM Group Inc. Ltd.; Mr Nelson Ko, Executive Director of Wilson Garment Accessories (International) Ltd.; Ms Samantha Ko, Executive Director and Vice-Chairlady of BOE Varitronix Ltd.; Ir Dr David Kwok, Chief Operating Officer of Wah Tung Facade Co Ltd.; Ms Scarlett Liu, Vice-Chairman of Han Empire Group Ltd.; and Ms Michelle Ng, CEO of Arts Optical International Holdings Ltd. These innovators have driven their companies forward with cutting-edge technologies and sustainable practices, fostering growth and international expansion. Their achievements are poised to inspire further innovation and competitiveness in Hong Kong’s industrial sector.
This article is contributed by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.
Dear Editor
On 27 November 2024, the government released a discussion paper for the Legislative Council’s Panel on Housing, regarding the proposed regulatory regime on “Basic Housing Units”, namely, sub-divided residential flats.
It is glad to see the government proposing requiring owners of sub-divided flats to employ prescribed “professionals” to certify their flats, and these professionals would include registered professional engineers in “construction, civil and structural” disciplines. It is unknown what the term “construction” means as there is no discipline exactly termed “construction” in the professional engineers’ register established under the Engineers Registration Ordinance (Cap. 409). However, I am of the opinion that it should include at least the “building” discipline and the “building services (building)” discipline, the latter being a sub-list established for registration as Registered Inspectors under Buildings Department’s Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme.
I also note that the paper proposes a number of checks concerning dimensions, hygiene, structural and fire safety for sub-divided flats. Unfortunately, there is no mention about electrical and water heater safety at all. I hope that engineers, especially building services engineers, can actively offer their opinions to the government during the consultation period from now to 10 February 2025 so that the Basic Housing Units of Hong Kong can be guarded against unwanted accidents from substandard electrical and water heater installations. I believe these two aspects are also highly important to the safety of residents.
Ir Dr Eddy W T LAU
Fellow
The Editorial Office has referred Ir Dr Eddy LAU’s letter to the Institution and a response is received as follows:
The Institution would like to thank Ir Dr LAU for sharing his views on the discussion paper of Legislative Council Panel on Housing on Proposed Regulatory Regime on Basic Housing Units. The Institution has submitted views on the same subject to the Housing Bureau on 28 January 2025, which can be accessed at https://hkie.org.hk/upload/opinion/369/file/67988de3d731f.pdf.
The Editorial Office