The Hong Kong Construction Association says Hong Kong could adopt mainland Chinese standards for construction materials instead of using British and EU standards to cut building costs, which are currently the highest in Asia.
Executive director Godfrey Leung King-kwok told South China Morning Post the move would cut the cost of transporting materials from overseas.
Hong Kong ranked ninth in Dutch consultant Arcadis’ annual league of most expensive cities to build in last year, but first among cities in Asia.
From 2016 to 2020, however, it placed in the top three.
“The mainland standard is of satisfactory quality, and the main point is how to execute it,” Leung said.
He said authorities might consider random sampling of mainland materials for quality control.
The association has been studying the issue and will shortly publish a preliminary report.
Arcadis global cities director John Batten, told the Post that foreign-origin materials were linked to distant supply chains and tended to incur premiums.
He said mainland standards were “typically at a lower price point than European standards”, adding that materials from the mainland were of comparable standards with other jurisdictions.
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