HONG KONG CHRONICLES — Friday, 6th October 2023

𝗠𝗬 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦

RED FACES IN REDHILL
After that whopping landslide we had in September, the powers that be say they’ve found another 13 houses in Redhill Peninsula that have been a bit cheeky, either encroaching on government land or sticking up structures without the go-ahead.

They are among 89 luxury homes in Tai Tam that the authorities set out to inspect after a torrential rainstorm and landslide revealed illegalities there last month. The Buildings Department and Lands Department officials said they found issues with 13 of the 14 homes that had been checked in the latest round of inspections, and that they will issue removal orders or even take further legal action against the owners.

The administration had earlier ordered the owners of four houses in Redhill Peninsula to remove unauthorised structures. Tsk Tsk.

GOOD NEWS FOR JOB HUNTERS
About 30 companies have set up their HQs in Hong Kong thanks to the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) and it looks like they’ll be offering up 10,000 jobs in the city over the next few years.

OASES is working to attract high-potential and representative strategic enterprises to Hong Kong from industries including fintech, artificial intelligence and data science. 80 percent of the firms are from the mainland and the specific scopes include four areas; artificial intelligence and big data analytics, health and life science, fintech and new materials and new energy.

WHAT A BOAR
Bit of a downer, but five construction workers and a policeperson were injured slightly on Thursday by a wild boar that fancied a wander round a building site in Wan Chai. Police said they received a report at 8.23 am that the wild pig was wandering on the lower floors of a building under construction on Stubbs Road.

Dozens of workers were evacuated from the site at one point. This is the second time in just a few weeks that a boar has wandered into the city centre.

TYPHOON WATCH
The Observatory has had its eyes on Typhoon Koinu for the past few days and say it’s slowed down a bit, veering more towards the south-west. That said, the local winds have been picking up, with some pretty strong gusts in parts of the territory. The Observatory thinks the Strong Wind Signal №3 will still be up for most of the weekend. (Update — the strong wind turned into a two-day typhoon over the weekend)

Until next week …