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Assisting Hong Kong engineering construction consultants to start practice in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

On 29 December 2020, the Development Bureau today held with the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Guangdong Province (DHURD) a conference for the architectural and engineering sectors to introduce the new measures under the Interim Guidelines for the Management of Hong Kong Engineering Construction Consultant Enterprises and Professionals Starting Business and Practising in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cities, which assist enterprises and professionals in starting businesses and practising in the nine cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The video conference, co-hosted by the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works), Lam Sai-hung, and the Deputy Director-General of the DHURD, Cai Ying, was held simultaneously at both places. The Director-General of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Professor Jiang Jianxiang, and representatives from construction-related professional institutions and associations as well as professional registration boards also participated in the conference.

“The new measures were endorsed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in July this year. With the concerted efforts of related parties, the measures were finalised and promulgated on the website of the DUHRD at the end of November and will take effect on 1 January 2021. The launch of the new measures at this moment offers uplifting news for the Hong Kong industry and reaffirms the achievement of the long-term collaboration between Guangdong and Hong Kong,” Lam said at the conference.

He expressed the hope that with the implementation of the new measures, professionals and enterprises in Hong Kong could grasp the opportunities in the GBA and serve as important momentum to assist in developing the GBA into a world-class bay area.

The Interim Guidelines allow consultant firms on the two government lists, i.e. the Architectural and Associated Consultants Selection Board and the Engineering and Associated Consultants Selection Board, as well as professionals registered with relevant registration boards in Hong Kong, to be able to directly provide services in the GBA by obtaining equivalent qualifications in the Mainland through a registration system. — Construction+ Online