HONG KONG: Authories Order Mira Hotel To Check All Its Windows After Death Of A Tourist

Authorities in Hong Kong have ordered a five-star hotel to inspect all its windows within a month, a day after one of them fell 16 floors and killed a woman.

That came as police broadened their investigation, looking into maintenance records kept by The Mira Hong Kong.

The Buildings Department said on Tuesday it had completed a preliminary investigation at the Tsim Sha Tsui building and found no obvious danger after inspecting some of the windows.

But it issued a statutory investigation order to the 18-storey hotel after it found some rivets – used for fixing hinges and handles onto aluminium windows had begun to oxidise.

The Buildings Department requires the owner of said building to appoint an authorised person to inspect its windows, submit a report and suggestions for remediation works within one month, a department spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for The Mira, a member of Henderson Land Group, confirmed the hotel had received the order, but would not disclose details, citing an ongoing police investigation.

We will comply with instructions from the department and from the police, she said.

Shortly before 10.30am on Monday, a 24-year-old mainland Chinese woman was walking along Nathan Road in the busy shopping district when she was struck by a window that fell from the hotel’s 16th floor.

Falling window death leads to call for more Hong Kong hotel safety checks

The woman, a tourist from Foshan, Guangdong province, died at about noon after being sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Police arrested a female cleaner, 39, saying the window fell out when she opened it. The cleaner was released on bail early on Tuesday morning and was required to report to police next month.

According to the force, an autopsy would be carried out on Wednesday. One police source said the damaged window and debris had been taken to a government lab for examination.

He said police investigators would check details of the last inspection of the window involved, and the related maintenance records, with the hotel and the department.

He said officers would also check the hotel’s internal guidelines or rules to find out who was allowed to unlock and open such windows.

Chan Tsz-kit, union organiser of the Catering and Hotel Industries Employees General Union, said the group found the cleaner’s arrest unfair.

An arrest might mean the cleaner bears all the responsibility, which we believe should be weak or even none for this female worker in this incident, said Chan, adding that they would find it more acceptable if the cleaner was asked to help the investigation.

No one would expect a window is broken when trying to open it, Chan said. It is not so appropriate to put all the blame on this female worker.

Tuesday’s inspection order was the latest under a scheme started in 2012. Under the scheme, owners of private buildings aged 10 years or more and with three or more storeys can be served with statutory orders to appoint a qualified person to inspect them and supervise and repairs.

After the first notice is issued, window inspections should be done every five years.

A panel of professional bodies, property management professionals and district council representatives regularly selects buildings inspection according to age, condition and any safety issues.

The department said it had issued inspection orders to 9,800 buildings under the scheme since 2012, of which 90 per cent were already complied with. Repair works were required in 37 per cent of the closed cases.

When the orders first came in, officials set a target of sending them to 5,800 buildings a year. But they revised that down to about 1,000 a year from 2014.

Wong Bay, a surveyor who sits on the selection panel, said it was time to review the scheme six years in, and look at the need to revise the target, and whether there was sufficient manpower in the industry to deal with the cases.


Tourism Observer

CHINA: Minsk-Guangzhou Flights To Begin, Guangzhou is building 1,000 Kilometer-long Mountain Climbing Trails

There are plans to launch a direct flight between Minsk and Guangzhou (China), Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on 4 May during the meeting with representatives of Chinese central and regional mass media partaking in the press tour to Belarus, BelTA has learned.

The head of state pointed out that Belarus is interested in bolstering ties with China's Guangdong Province. The sides have advanced trade and achieved considerable results in tourism and science.

Guangdong Province is also ready to set up light emitting diode companies in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone.

Currently we are discussing the launch of direct air service between Minsk and Guangzhou. The prospects are quite promising, Alexander Lukashenko remarked.

Belarus is ready to bolster ties with other Chinese regions. There are no forbidden topics or problems in our relations. You may rest assured that all your initiatives in Belarus will be supported. I invite you to come over and offer ideas.

We will receive and support you with pleasure, the president underlined. Guangzhou is the capital of China's most developed province Guangdong. The city is the political, economic, scientific and technical, educational, cultural and transport center of South China.

Guangzhou's Airport Economic Demonstration Zone is off to a robust start by attracting big investments and more than 100 new projects.

The zone already is becoming a hot spot for investment and development..

Benefiting from the city's status as a major aviation hub, the zone was established to boost and guide the development of high-end manufacturing and modern service industries.

Based on the air transportation business, the zone is intended to become a modern industrial base, a regional logistics center, and a technological innovation venue and cooperation platform.

The Baiyun airport's location, efficiency and multi-level services supported the Philippines' AirAsia's opening of direct flights between Guangzhou and Manila on April 28, the 12th new airline flying into and from the airport this year.

The opening of more international routes showcases the increasingly enhanced functionality of the Baiyun airport.

According to data released by airport officials, Baiyun's passenger throughput in 2016 reached 59.78 million, up 8.2 percent over the previous year, making it one of the world’s top 15 international airports and establishing its position as a gateway to Southeast Asia and Australia.

Meanwhile, many airline companies are flocking to the airport, further accelerating the development of the economic zone. In late March, Baiyun welcomed a new airline company - Guangdong Longhao Aviation Group. It took only nine months from preparation to construction for its first flight.

Longhao is not the only company that thinks highly of the airport's economic zone. Other international and national airline enterprises also are arriving in a steady stream.

Also, China Southern Airlines signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Guangzhou with American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, opening up a new epoch for international cooperation of large airline companies.

In terms of transportation development in the economic zone, progress has been made, according to Sun Xiuqing, director of the zone’s administrative committee.

The northern extension of the airport's second highway is already under construction; the expansion of intercity rail lines like Guangzhou to Qingyuan, Guangzhou to Foshan, and Guangzhou to Dongguan to Shenzhen is accelerating; Metro Line 9 and Huadu-Dongguan highway are under intense construction.

Apart from the construction of infrastructure and facilities, the economic zone has made breakthroughs in attracting investments and projects.

The zone's authorities have signed strategic cooperation and investment agreements with many companies, including YTO, Minsheng E-Commerce, DHL, China Air Cargo Corporation, and Baoneng, with the total investment reaching 26.96 billion yuan. Also, 500 enterprises have registered in the zone, and a batch of giant projects have started construction.

Among the businesses operating in the zone thus far, e-commerce is the most prevalent.

Guangzhou is building 1,000-kilometer-long mountain climbing trails as part of the National Trails System (NTS) in line with international standards.

The trails will make optimal use of the city's natural resources, history and culture to foster an upscale tourist business, and help enhance public awareness of ecological and cultural protection, while also providing sightseeing and recreational activities in beautiful natural environments, an official of Conghua Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Press and Publication said.

The first trail open to the public in Guangzhou is located in Liangkou village, Conghua district, with a length of 60 kilometers. Far away from the bustling metropolis, the Conghua trail is divided into four levels of difficulty to meet the needs of various people.

Summit Challenge Route, the most difficult section on the Conghua trail, offers good opportunities to climb the 1,210-meter Tiantang Peak, the highest mountain in Guangzhou, and enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Huangchayuan Mountain.

Hiking Route, a less difficult trek, is the longest route of the trail.

Leisure Travel Route is a more leisurely hike for people to enjoy the natural beauty and countryside scenery, such as a star observation platform, Qianlonggou Waterfall, Xitou village and Apoliu village.

Lake Loop Route, the easiest of the four, allows visitors to walk by the riverside, linking up four reservoirs – Dashuikou, Baishuidai, Xiabazi and Lianxi, as well as streams and waterfalls.

The NTS refers to the network of scenic, historic and recreation trails created by the U.S. National Trails System Act of 1968. The NTS will help Conghua become a leader in the development of Guangzhou’s trails and rural tourism. It will serve as a model on sustainable use of ecological and cultural resources.

Guangzhou’s foreign trade got off to a strong start in the first quarter, with import and export volume growing 31.9 percent over the same period in 2016 to 242.8 billion yuan.

At the same time, the import and export volume of Guangdong province increased by 15.4 percent year-on-year to 1.45 trillion yuan, according to data released by Guangzhou customs office.

On March 6, Guangzhou officially launched a national pilot mode of market procurement trade, which is a convenient, efficient, sharing and online regulatory platform for market procurement trade.

The platform has 172 businesses with over 10,000 products, of which 155 are foreign trade runners. The market procurement export value in Guangzhou through this platform reached 3.25 billion yuan through March 31.

In the first two months, Guangzhou’s cross-border e-commerce business grew by 16.2 percent over a year ago, ranking first among 60 cities engaged in e-commerce business.

Moreover, Guangzhou’s import of automobiles and diamonds showed good development momentum. Over 4,000 cars reached the Nansha port in Q1, 1.5 times as many as in the same period last year, while total diamond imports increased 26.2 percent.

According to an official of the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce, in order to enhance the development of foreign trade, Guangzhou continues to attract investments through multiple channels.

In the first three months, over 38,000 enterprises worth 300 billion yuan in registered capital were established in Guangzhou, a growth of 54.1 percent over the same period in 2016. Also, about 300 Fortune Global 500 corporations have launched nearly 800 projects in Guangzhou, according to officials.

Sakai Display Products Corp., a subsidiary of the world's largest electronics contractor, Foxconn Technology Group, plans to invest 61 billion yuan to produce 10.5 generation panel, substrate glass and related product lines in Guangzhou. It is by far the biggest foreign investment project in four decades in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou will accelerate the development of new types of business, including financial leasing, automobile imports and the diamond trade, and will further promote the import and export of high-tech and high-value-added products, such as automobiles, ships, aircraft, electronic products and medical equipment to enhance the transformation and upgrading of trade.