The collapse of a 55 year old building in Hung Hom is a tragedy, with at least 3 dead.  And now we are finding out that flats in the building had been illegally partitioned into smaller cubicles and that remodeling efforts had included removal of structural walls and columns.  The SCMP tells us that “Director of Buildings Au Choi-kai said a repair order had been served on the owners earlier this month. However, the block’s condition had not been bad enough to require its closure.”  Um, hello?  And there are untold more buildings in the district and throughout Hong Kong that have been “improved” in this manner. This is not the first such collapse in HK history and, fortunately, it is not the worst, but unfortunately it will probably not be the last.

Unscrupulous landlords in Hong Kong are not news.  Crappy inspections and lax enforcement of building codes are also not news.  Why does the government wait until after people have died to do something about it?  That’s assuming that they will do something about it; it’s not a given.

Unrelated and yet related, a story in the SCMP yesterday about Sai Kung’s “village of the jammed” gives an update on the situation in Ho Chung New Village, where it turns out that the road that led into the village wasn’t public and is now permanently blocked as someone has decided to build a new house in the middle of it.  This is, we are told, the only access road for more than 1,000 residents.  And next week it will cease to exist.  “The Lands Department says its hands are tied, this being the New Territories. The Home Affairs Department says it can’t build a road because some residents object.” Recent purchasers of properties there claim they were not told by either their own lawyers or the realtors about the potential issue with the access road, although the village head claims that this information is stated in the title deeds to the properties.

The thing is – this is not a recent development.  The road was closed last September, people protested, the government got the land owner to temporarily re-open the road, various government agencies stepped in to negotiate … and nothing happened, nothing changed.

“The Lands Department says that under the small-house policy, there is no guaranteed right-of-way.”  Why isn’t there?  Shouldn’t that be considered a fundamental right?  Shouldn’t there be some sort of planning to ensure that people have some way to get to their homes?  Shouldn’t there be stronger disclosure laws?

Here’s another one – in Ho Sheung Heung village, near Sheung Shui, the government planned to demolish two illegal structures standing on illegal landfill in a so-called “priority conservation area.”  So the village chief bused in 200 protesters – mostly elderly people who had no idea what was going on but got on the bus to spend a day in the countryside and get a free lunch.  And the demolitions did not take place.   Meanwhile a vacant building in the area was illegally converted into a food shop and it seems that the government is also powerless to shut this down.

It’s all a fricking joke, isn’t it?  What kind of “world city” allows these kinds of shenanigans?

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Good meeting with a recruiter yesterday.  Being submitted for a position with an MNC for which he says I am almost an exact fit.  Sounds promising.  Just one thing – the job’s in Singapore.  Well, it’s early days, I’ll continue down the interview path if they’re interested in me.  I see both pros and cons to Singapore.  What to do with the blog should I actually emigrate?  “Singie Town” doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it, does it?

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Carrying a ladder down a flight of stairs in my home yesterday, the stairs decided to play a trick on me and added an extra step at the bottom.  I missed it, came down hard and twisted my ankle nicely.  Some swelling, some pain, not great but not the worst I’ve ever had.  But I guess I have to see how this goes for the next couple of days – was planning to do some major walking around Macau early next week, hope this doesn’t screw up the plan.

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