Hong Kong’s Buildings Department earlier rejected the license renewal application of construction firm Jingjin Construction, which subsequently filed an appeal. The High Court has adjourned the case to hand down a written ruling in late January next year, during which Jingjin Construction’s license revocation will remain suspended.
The appellant is Jingjin Construction Co., Ltd., while the respondents are the Director of Buildings and the Construction Industry Registration Committee (CIRC). After considering the CIRC’s recommendation, the Buildings Department decided to reject Jingjin Construction’s license renewal application due to its involvement in multiple fatal industrial accidents. The company was removed from the General Building Contractors Register starting June 20, barring it from undertaking any construction works. Jingjin Construction filed an appeal and previously obtained a High Court order to suspend the revocation, allowing it to continue taking on construction projects until the formal appeal ruling is issued.
In its submission, the appellant argued that the Buildings Department’s decision to refuse license renewal lacked transparency. It also stated that Kan Ho-kai, who was charged with three counts of manslaughter over the 2022 Anderson Road crane collapse that killed three people, was once an authorized signatory of Jingjin Construction but had formally resigned in February 2024, a fact the company had notified the Buildings Department in writing. However, the department still erroneously took Kan’s competence as a key consideration when rejecting the renewal. Additionally, the appellant claimed that the CIRC had an insufficient quorum of fewer than nine members during the license renewal interview, undermining the validity of its decision.
Jingjin Construction has been involved in three serious construction site safety accidents in 2020, 2022, and 2023 respectively, resulting in a total of five deaths.
