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RenoSafe programme launched amid rising criminal involvement in renovation workAs the age of Hong Kong’s buildings creeps up and renovations are increasingly required, opportunities for criminals to cash in on the construction trade are growing, according to police.儲存But yesterday a new initiative, named the RenoSafe scheme, was launched to fight back against crime in the trade.“The potential gains from [building renovation projects] are huge and criminals are not going to ignore the opportunity to make money,” said Matthew Kwok Ho-fai, a police chief superintendent in the force’s Organised Crime and Triad Bureau.Over the next couple of years, more than 500 ageing buildings are expected to undergo renovations annually. The police have said that crimes related to building revamps are on the rise, with 22 cases recorded in the year to August – as many as were logged for all of last year.Such crimes often involve the use of threats such as criminal damage, intimidation and even arson to force owners to award renovation contracts to businesses that may involve triads.Corruption is also a problem, manifest in practices such as rigging bids for renovation contracts and bribing members of building owners’ corporations. Project consultants and contractors are bribed in exchange for turning a blind eye to the use of substandard building materials.Crimi新蒲崗迷你倉al groups can make illicit earnings running into the millions of dollars each time they win a renovation contract whose price has been inflated by double or three times the estimate of an independent project consultant.The RenoSafe scheme aims to curb these practices by providing building owners planning renovations with advice from government departments and operational support from the police.It offers regular workshops and seminars on preventing renovation-related crimes – jointly organised by the police, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society – for owners of buildings in need of repair.The Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Buildings Department and the Home Affairs Department will also participate in the scheme.The scheme has no single hotline for one-stop service, but the government departments involved in it will refer requests to relevant parties when they receive calls for assistance.A police officer will also be assigned to each case once a building’s owners have joined the RenoSafe scheme.Meanwhile, the URA yesterday said it was in talks with the Housing Society to improve renovation tendering arrangements by reducing the risk of information about owners and contract bidders being leaked to potentially threatening outside parties. Details of the new bidding arrangements will be announced soon.mini storage