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Following is the speech by the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Michael Suen, at the Construction Industry Council Inaugural CIC Conference at Hong Kong Science Park this morning (March 11):
SS, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to join you for this Inaugural CIC Conference.
A warm welcome to you all and especially to our guests from the Mainland and overseas.
It is often said that first impressions count the most. For those of you arriving by air, first impressions of our city include the Hong Kong International Airport, which served 50 million passengers last year. Then there is the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Stonecutters Bridge as well as an efficient rail system.
I hope these have helped to give you a good first impression of our city, and an idea of the wonderful contributions made by our construction industry.
The construction industry is a mainstay of Hong Kong's economy. It employs about 8% of the local workforce. It also supports our pillar industries, especially tourism and trade and logistics.
The Government invests heavily in new infrastructure. This helps to promote economic development, create jobs and enhance the long-term competitiveness of Hong Kong.
We are pressing ahead with a number of projects, including the Ten Major Infrastructure Projects highlighted by the Chief Executive in 2007. These include more new bridges, railways and tourism infrastructure. In the next fiscal year, starting on April 1, expenditure on capital works projects is estimated to reach a record $58 billion, or around 16% of total government expenditure. This level of expenditure is expected to remain high at around $60 billion in each of the coming few years.
The Construction Industry Council, or CIC, was established on February 1, 2007. In the following year, it was amalgamated with the former Construction Industry Training Authority. The CIC has an important role to play in our city's infrastructure development.
As the industry-coordinating body, the CIC promotes the culture of self-regulation through promulgation of standards, guidelines and best practices.
Notably, the Council has identified priority areas for research in construction project management and procurement with a view to encouraging innovation.
With its knowledge and experience, the CIC is well placed to promote best practices and management expertise. It issues guidelines, develops learning networks and organises professional seminars and other learning opportunities.
As I have mentioned, the Government will continue to invest heavily in infrastructure development.
As we press ahead with various major infrastructure projects, the Government is well aware that the industry is facing a number of concerns. These include skill mismatch problems and an ageing workforce, particularly for construction workers. The CIC is well positioned to respond to these and other fast-changing needs of the labour market in the construction industry.
In response to these problems, the CIC has launched a number of new training initiatives. These include the Enhanced Construction Manpower Training Scheme and the Contractors Collaborative Training Scheme. Both Schemes boost the attractiveness of the training programmes to both workers and contractors. These Schemes have helped attract more people, especially young people, to join the industry. They also encourage experienced employees to upgrade their skills through training and trade-testing.
The CIC also spearheads the development of the construction industry by promoting codes of conduct, guidelines and best practices in a number of key areas. In particular, CIC has developed a set of guidelines encompassing a wide range of safety-related matters. These cover the operation of tower cranes, working in hot weather, site vehicle and mobile plant, as well as lift shaft works and so on.
To foster a quality working culture and to nurture a professional workforce, the CIC released a set of codes of conduct for personnel in the construction industry. Guidelines on security of payment and subcontracting will further steer the construction industry to foster a collaborative culture throughout its supply chain.
The Voluntary Sub-contractors Registration Scheme is another contribution of the CIC to lead the Hong Kong construction industry in adopting best practices. By setting registration requirements and promoting codes of practice, the Registration Scheme will help raise standards in the construction industry.
During the past decade, we have witnessed growing public aspiration for a greener and more sustainable built environment. In response to this green building movement, the CIC has joined the Business Environment Council, BEAM Society and Professional Green Building Council to form the Hong Kong Green Building Council.
In Hong Kong, buildings alone account for nearly 90% of the total electricity consumption. Under the concept of the whole-life value of buildings, the recurrent cost of daily management and maintenance often outweighs the initial capital cost of buildings. Incorporating "green" elements into new buildings and retrofitting existing ones can achieve considerable energy savings.
The Hong Kong Green Building Council has developed a local building energy efficiency assessment and certification system, known as BEAM Plus. The aim is to maximise the whole-life value to achieve financial, environmental and social sustainability over the lifespan of a building. BEAM Plus is an important part of our overall environmental goals.
The Government has three distinctive roles to play in the construction industry. It is a client of the industry for public works projects; it as an agent to co-ordinate works projects, and the Government is also a regulator. In each of these roles, our key objective is to nurture and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
We see a number of areas where the industry, both private and public, could work more closely together. These areas include enhancing the construction workers registration regime, stepping up research and development and improving the general working conditions of construction sites.
Last year, we proposed to stakeholders of the construction industry and the Legislative Council that the CIC should further amalgamate with the Construction Workers Registration Authority.
While the CIC has already been providing registration services on behalf of the Authority, we envisage that the proposal could further streamline the system. After the amalgamation, the CIC could provide seamless one-stop services to construction workers, with consistent and coherent policy in delivering the construction workers registration policy. We have received general support for the proposal.
There are about 265,000 registered construction workers. About 60% of them are general construction workers. We note that many of these general workers have certain experience and skills, but some need further training to measure up to the level of semi-skilled or skilled workers.
With useful information of workers in the register, the future amalgamated CIC can develop more timely training strategies and programmes to ensure a skilled workforce to meet the demands of the industry. Ultimately, the CIC could help nurture the development of a multi-skilled construction workforce to provide solid and staunch support to the industry.
Site and programme constraints, labour intensive construction methods and the high cost of some material components all add to the relatively high construction costs in Hong Kong. We believe investment in research and development may provide some good solutions.
We see that the CIC could play a meaningful role in establishing clear objectives, directions and priorities for local construction research and development activities. We consider that more effort could be channelled to reviewing design and construction practices with a view to reducing manpower demand for trades with anticipated shortages.
We would also encourage contractors to adopt more widely mechanised methods for trades with anticipated labour shortages.
In fact, the project delivery cycle will involve multiple parties, where effective and efficient communication within and between parties are crucial. Here, the effective application of information technology could greatly lubricate this interfacing and facilitate communications. The Government has taken the lead in leveraging on information technology in the overall contract management and procurement and tendering.
We encourage the CIC and other stakeholders in the construction industry to continue to invest in the wider application of information technology throughout the construction supply chain by developing practical application solutions to suit local circumstances.
In recent years, due to the expanded opportunities for further education and challenging working conditions on construction sites, the industry has found it difficult to attract young people to join the industry.
To attract more people to join the construction workforce, we are taking the lead to introduce best practices in public works projects to further improve the safety, working environment and conditions on construction sites. For example, the Government requires new public works projects to implement adequate measures to enhance safety and improve general cleanliness and tidiness, with regular inspections of the site conditions.
Furthermore, contractors of new public works projects are required to provide shower facilities, storage space and a proper resting area for construction personnel as far as practicable. With these new amenity facilities, we can offer more favourable working conditions to site personnel, with a view to attracting more young people to join the construction industry. We also encourage private developers to follow suit and enhance safety, cleanliness and facilities on construction sites. We are glad to note that many private developers and contractors are responding positively along this direction.
Apart from the general working conditions, the Government will also require contractors of new public works projects to provide uniforms to their site personnel. This will help to cultivate team spirit and project a professional image of the construction industry to the public.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed significant improvements throughout our construction industry since the establishment of the CIC just four years ago. I commend the Council on its work so far.
I have mentioned some of the opportunities as well as challenges facing our construction industry. I am sure this conference will provide an ideal platform to share ideas and expertise among fellow professionals that will help tackle the challenges and grasp the opportunities.
I wish you a very successful conference and our visitors a memorable stay in Hong Kong.
Ends/Friday, March 11, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:39
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