Kenneth "Nicky" Chan Nai-keong,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, JP (; 17 November 1931 – 9 May 2003) was a Hong Kong engineer and government official. He was the first Chinese person to become Secretary for Lands and Works from 1983 to 1986.

Biography

With a family root in

Zhongshan Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

, Chan was born in 1931. He was educated at Loughborough College and became a student engineer at the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tan ...

of the Hong Kong government. His first task was road-widening work in Wong Nai Chung Road outside the

Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...

in Happy Valley. One of this major projects was the construction of the

Connaught Road Connaught Road is a major thoroughfare on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It links Shing Sai Road in Kennedy Town to the west and Harcourt Road in Admiralty to the east. Location The road consists of two adjoining sectio ...

pedestrian underpass to the Star Ferry Terminal in Central. He was promoted to the assistant engineer in 1960 and was sent to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

for advanced graduate studies in traffic engineering. He became senior engineer in 1962, the chief engineer in 1965 and later the government's chief engineer in 1973. In 1977, he was promoted to the project manager of the Tuen Mun New Town Development Office, head of the Highways Office and director of engineering development. He then became the Deputy Director of the Lands and Works. He was the first Chinese to become Secretary for Lands and Works from 1983 to 1986 before he became the Postmaster General. For his contribution, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Loughborough and was elected to the British Fellowship of Engineering in 1986. He retired from the civil service in 1987 to take the position of managing director of Hong Kong Electric Holdings which sparked controversy of a potential conflict of interest. After his retirement, he was active in the public sphere, becoming the founding president of the Hong Kong Former Senior Civil Servants Association, chairman of the

Hong Kong Institution of Engineers The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE, ) is a professional body of engineers in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1947 as the ''Engineering Society of Hong Kong'' and was incorporated by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as ''The Hong Kong ...

and president of the Association of Engineers in Society. He was appointed member of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and

Hong Kong Affairs Advisor Hong Kong Affairs Advisers () were appointed by the Chinese government after the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten carried out his electoral reform in the British Hong Kong, in the eve of the handover of the sovereignty of the city-state fr ...

on the eve of the handover. He was also a member of the Selection Committee and a member of the

Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...

. In 1997, Chan formed the Hong Kong Experts Consultancy which employed former senior civil servants to offer advice to engineering and property businesses. Chan died of cancer in 2003 and was survived by his wife and three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Nai-keong 1931 births 2003 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong engineers Hong Kong businesspeople Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Alumni of Loughborough University Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Members of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Hong Kong Affairs Advisors Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 1998–2000 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005