HKSAR Government Unveils Comprehensive Reforms Following Tragic Wang Fuk Court Fire Incident

Remarks at press conference on matters relevant to report of Independent Committee in relation to fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, together with the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan; the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC; the Deputy Financial Secretary and Acting Secretary for Housing, Mr Michael Wong; the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung; the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn; and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, held a press conference today (October 29) on matters relevant to the report of the Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Following are Mr Lee's remarks at the press conference:

Reporter: My first question: the reform you have just mentioned is basically replacing bureaucracy with another bureaucracy without any fundamental changes, how would you convince the public that your reform can fundamentally change the current landscape and reassure us of our safety? And for my second question, you mentioned that there will be administrative accountability to be pursued. But drawing on lessons from the precedent of the Lamma Island ferry disaster, some civil servants were held criminally liable for their negligence. Would the Government consider also laying prosecution against some of the civil servants who were found negligent in the days leading to the fire? Thank you.

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee. Photo by Bastille Post

Chief Executive: First of all, I do not agree with your initial remark that this is just another bureaucracy. I have given you great details in regard to seven areas of reform and measures. If you look at the Independent Committee's report, and also have been following the Independent Committee's hearings, you will realise that the beginning of all these things started with corrupt bid-rigging, with the infiltration of triad members and unlawful elements who take advantage of the lack of professional knowledge of residents when they have to face decisions as to who to really employ as inspectors, supervisors, and contractors. The reforms that we roll out now are comprehensive reforms. We are restructuring departments so that they will enforce both inspection and also take legal action seriously. It will also turn the system, which was created some 14 years ago, proposed by the Government and discussed with law enacted in the LegCo (Legislative Council), which places strong emphasis on both the responsible persons, particular professionals, contractors and supervisors, as well as the Government, to take its regulatory roles. We see in this case a series of things happening that resulted in this tragedy, and the things that we are rolling out now address each and every one of them. On the basis of the 120 recommendations that the Independent Committee has recommended, we have added more. We have done something, which is that in addition to the 120 recommendations, there are seven recommendations among the 120 which the committee has asked us to implement immediately. We have implemented all these seven recommendations immediately. In addition to these seven, we have already rolled out some measures, a lot of which, when you look at the Independent Committee's report, converge (with the recommendations). That means the determination of the Government to really address and improve the situation so as not to allow future tragedies to happen is serious, and also in the same thinking line with the Independent Committee. So I will earnestly request each one of you to pay attention to what we are rolling out, and I'm taking my full team, particularly the major responsible secretaries, here to explain to you the overall reform framework.

Also, we are also arranging two additional press briefings tomorrow in response to two themes. We just want to let everybody know in detail, and I would really urge each one of you to thoroughly read through the thick book of the Independent Committee's report, and also to listen in detail to this press conference and the follow-up press conferences that we will hold in order to let everybody know that we are so serious to reform everything. In fact, all these will be explained in further details when we propose amendments to the legislation. I'm sure that there will be more debates in the LegCo, and we will be happy to listen to the views of LegCo members so that we together will ensure that the system is fully reformed so as not to allow any possible similar incidents happening in future.

The Legislative Council. Photo source: reference image

But if you look at all the systems that we are facing, you can see that some systems were created in the third-term Government, some in the fourth-term Government, so it is a series of developments that eventually led to the present systems which we are all in. The tragedy has indicated that despite the developments over the years, despite the changes that different terms of government may have imposed into them, the Independent Committee's report, thankfully, has thoroughly examined the weaknesses of the present systems, and we are serious in ensuring that all these weaknesses and inadequacies are fully addressed, and elements are strengthened so as not to allow similar things to happen again. That is why we will enact a new law on making it a criminal offense for bid-rigging in respect of building renovation works. We will form this task force, which will allow law enforcement agencies to actively take part, to make use of the strongest power under the LegCo, where, when we suspect somebody is doing something bad, he can actually be called to give evidence, and to give information before the law enforcement agencies. This is something which indicates our strong will to ensure that the systems become healthy again. When the Public Service Commission conducts its investigations, if they come across anything which they think need to be referred to law enforcement agencies, it will be. They will, and I think that will be a duty.

But we also have to be fair to the investigation. We should not make prejudgment on what things will develop, because I want to highlight to you what the Independent Committee in its report has said in regard to what the committee has observed, and at the same time, what they want to remind us together. The Independent Committee has identified inadequacies and shortcomings. But the Independent Committee has also pointed out that while the four relevant departments have deficiency and shortcomings, they also have affirmed in its report that many civil servants are diligent and conscientious, always putting the public interest at the forefront. The report also said that international rankings also prove this point. Hong Kong ranks second globally in terms of government efficiency. What I meant to say is that despite the deficiency and shortcomings of this number of civil servants, we should not allow them to obscure the good performance and the passion of the civil service at large to serve the public and do a good job. The Independent Committee's report also said that it is pleased that the Government took prompt measures after the fire to address some of the problems revealed by this tragedy. And it said that this is an indication of good governance by the Government. Right, the four departments have been discovered to have deficiency and inadequacies. However, first of all, don't let them obscure the overall good performance of the whole government. I think we have to be fair to the whole civil service. Also, while the system needs to be reformed, we, the Government, are determined to reform it comprehensively and do it fast. That is why we roll out measures when the Independent Committee was conducting its full investigation, and we work on the basis of the recommendations throughout these comprehensive reform programmes.

Wang Fuk Court. Photo source: reference image

Reporter: Why is Winnie Ho the only Principal Official that is held accountable, even though other departments are also found to have deficiencies? And will the Government look for a future successor, given that the current administration's term is going to end next year? And in what ways will the raft of reforms help to restore the public's confidence as well as trust with the Government? Thank you.

Chief Executive: The fire resulted in the death of 168 people, including a fireman who lost his life while bravely fighting the fire. It has caused pain and sorrow to the affected families and the community. The political team will take political accountability, and I have considered a wide range of factors, including the official's role in the matter, the official's policy portfolio and its relation with the incident, whether the problems relate to policy or execution, the performance of the subordinates, the large amount of work the political team will have to do in the time ahead. Considering that the fire took place in Wang Fuk Court and it falls within the purview of the Housing Department's ICU (Independent Checking Unit), which is under the Housing Bureau, the Secretary for Housing should take political accountability.

The Secretary for Housing, Ms Winne Ho. Photo source: reference image

I also set out two requirements for the political team. First, continue in their respective position to exert the utmost efforts amidst the reforms and the substantial amount of work ahead. Second, learn from the incident, strengthen leadership more strongly, and pursue more vigorously result-oriented governance. I have made this political decision after considering all the factors and also the two requirements that I have set out for my political team. I balance all these factors, and I think if we understand how we approach this problem, then maybe you will understand how I make the overall decision. Because there are five things that we must do in this matter.

First of all, we must pursue criminal liability to ensure those responsible could not escape justice, and justice could be done. Second, the political team has made a clear position that will show the political accountability and make a decision, explaining in detail how I consider the range of factors to come to this decision. The third is to ensure that we will also pursue administrative accountability, hence the setting up of the independent investigation team under the Public Service Commission, in accordance with the Heads of Department Accountability System, which I set up. And the fourth thing is to ensure that we will take good care of the affected families, to ensure that they will also be provided with long-term accommodation arrangements. And the fifth, the most important thing, is to ensure that we reform the whole system to ensure that we will not allow a similar tragedy to take place.

It is a decision that I make after considering all these factors. I have explained to you in detail, and I hope that after you have read in detail the Independent Committee's report, which talks about the 120 recommendations, how we seriously implement them, and what, in addition to the 120 recommendations, we do more, such as revamping the complaint system, ensuring that complaints are not just handled at the departmental level, but all will be upgraded to the central system, with senior officials in the centre using a system of AI to identify repeated problems, to identify, probably complaints we don't think are handled to the best degree as we would like. And also, we will be improving training among the civil service to ensure that they will be doing the service with a full mindset of serving the public, and also implement it fully, my governance philosophy of a result-oriented governance. So, this is a very comprehensive reform with different areas of new measures, and you can see that we are doing all these things despite that some of the systems actually originated many years ago, and we are doing a comprehensive reform rather than just bits and pieces measures.

Wang Fuk Court. Photo source: reference image

Reporter: Have you discussed with the Central Government about those reform measures? If not, will you report these measures to the President during your annual duty visit to Beijing? And second one is, you said you take responsibility as the leader of the city. As such kind of tragedy happened during your term, would you seek a re-election in the future? Thank you.

Chief Executive: I am the Chief Executive. I am the person responsible for running the Government. I take full responsibility to ensure that things are run well. All the measures and the reforms come from the collective decision and deliberation within the Government on the basis of the recommendations of the Independent Committee's report. The second thing is, each year I report to the leader in Beijing, and we'll do it in accordance with the usual way of reporting what is necessary. The third thing is, it is important that we do not allow similar tragedy to happen. This is the number one priority in implementing this comprehensive reform. That should be the only goal, and that should be the only thinking. We have no personal thinking in this matter. We have people's interests close to our heart. We would love to listen to more views from the public about how we will further improve the system, because we have only one goal and only one purpose: to reform comprehensively, so that the tragedy will not happen again. Only this purpose, and only this thinking.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee (fourth right), together with the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki (fourth left); the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan (third right); the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC (third left); the Deputy Financial Secretary and Acting Secretary for Housing, Mr Michael Wong (second right); the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung (second left); the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn (first right); and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun (first left), hold a government press conference today (October 29) on matters relevant to the report of the Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Development Bureau and Housing Bureau announce comprehensive reforms to building maintenance regulatory regime and support services

Based on the findings of the report of the Independent Committee (IC), the Development Bureau (DEVB) and the Housing Bureau today (October 30) jointly announced the details of comprehensive reform measures. The DEVB will spearhead three measures, including the establishment of the Building Maintenance Support and Services Council (BMSSC) by the end of the year, the submission of proposed amendments to the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) (BO) to the Legislative Council before the end of this year, and the commencement of the organisational restructuring of the Buildings Department (BD) in the first quarter of next year. Meanwhile, the Housing Bureau will establish the Public Housing Building Control Section (PBC) within November 2026 to replace the Independent Checking Unit, and launch a new regulatory regime to strengthen the regulation of large-scale maintenance and renovation works in courts/estates.

Establishment of the BMSSC

As pointed out by the IC, building maintenance and renovation concern the private property of citizens. The responsibility for building management rests with the owners, while the Government's role is to ensure that building maintenance and renovation works are carried out in a healthy and clean market environment. As the new support services differ significantly in both the breadth and depth from the previous "Smart Tender" services provided by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), the Government will establish the BMSSC to take the lead in the work. The BMSSC will provide more proactive support to owners by offering services at different stages on behalf of owners, demonstrating the Government's commitment while allowing the URA to focus on urban renewal.

The BMSSC will be a non-statutory company wholly owned by the Financial Secretary Incorporated. The Government aims to complete the registration of the company and the appointment of its Board of Directors by the end of this year. Recruitment of the Chief Executive Officer and other staff are underway, so that the company can take over the provision of the new support services from the URA as soon as possible. In accordance with the original plan, three Pre-qualified Lists will be progressively available by the end of this year. Inspection consultants will be assigned starting from the coming January, with project tendering for owners commencing within the first quarter of 2027.

The four major areas of responsibilities of the BMSSC are–

(a) formulating and updating building maintenance and renovation measures in accordance with Government strategies to support owners in properly maintaining properties and effectively addressing the problem of building ageing;

(b) providing new support services to owners and conducting regular reviews and optimisation to ensure that the services meet owners' needs; are independent, reliable, professional; and that the service fees are reasonable, while maintaining the long-term financial sustainability of the BMSSC;

(c) leveraging technology including artificial intelligence to develop and manage database of building maintenance and renovation works cost and other information with a view to assisting owners in making informed decisions and detecting irregularities or misconduct during tendering; and

(d) implementing Government building maintenance subsidy schemes to provide financial assistance to owners in need.

Upon its establishment, the BMSSC will initially focus on the work under (a) to (c) above, including giving priority to handling about 1 800 maintenance and renovation projects under the original "Smart Tender" for which contractors have not yet been engaged, and will progressively take over the work under (d) currently undertaken by the URA in due course. The specific functions of the BMSSC are set out in Annex 1.

The Board of the BMSSC will comprise official and non-official directors. The appointment of directors (including the non-official director serving as Chairman) and the Chief Executive Officer will be approved by the Chief Executive. A rigorous declaration of interests system will be put in place to prevent conflicts of interests of its directors and employees. The BMSSC will also be designated as a public body under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201) (the Ordinance) in future, subjecting its directors and employees to more stringent regulation under the Ordinance. In this year's Budget, $100 million has been earmarked as start-up capital for the BMSSC, covering initial staff expenditure and other operating expenses. The BMSSC is expected to achieve self-financing in the long run.

The BMSSC will provide two service options –

(a) free service – Three Pre-qualified Lists, sample tender documents and sample works contracts, as well as past works cost data, will be made available free of charge. Owners may make reference to such information and conduct their own tendering through the electronic platform of the BMSSC to engage inspection consultants, supervision consultants and contractors;

(b) standard fee-charging service – end-to-end services will be provided, including –

(i) pre-arranging the recruitment of inspection consultants so that they can be assigned to owners for appointment to carry out building inspections as early as possible. As there is no need to conduct separate tendering for building inspection for individual projects, this important starting point of building inspection can be properly commenced as early as possible;

(ii) conducting tendering and tender evaluation on behalf of owners for the engagement of supervision consultants and contractors respectively (the former responsible for drafting works plans and tender documents, and the latter for conducting works), and then recommending up to three tenders based on the ranking of tender evaluation scores. Owners receiving government maintenance subsidies must make appointments from the recommended tenders. Owners not receiving government maintenance subsidies may decide on their own whether to appoint from the recommended tenders (if they choose not to accept any recommended tenders, the BMSSC will not provide further services during the subsequent works stage of the project);

(iii) during the works stage, supervision consultant will take primary responsibility for assisting owners in supervising the works; while the BMSSC will assist owners in monitoring whether the supervision consultant has provided the services in accordance with the contract, including requiring the supervision consultant to submit supervision progress reports regularly. In addition to uploading the said reports to the electronic platform for owners' monitoring, the BMSSC will also review the reports to assess the consultant's performance; and

(iv) if substantial amendments to the scope of works or increase in works costs are required during the works stage, the supervision consultant must first submit a report so that the BMSSC can provide independent advice to the owners.

Owners receiving government maintenance subsidies must adopt the standard fee-charging service under (b) above. The standard fee service will be calculated on a cost-recovery basis, and preliminary estimate of the cost would be several thousand dollars per household. The BMSSC will make good use of the additional $200 million earmarked in this year's Budget to provide fee concessions to owners in need. The BMSSC will announce the fee and subsidy details in due course.

Regarding the suggestion of establishing a single body to take full responsibility for building maintenance and regulatory work, different advocates have put forward various views on the roles and functions of such a body. The DEVB considers that the establishment of the BMSSC by the Government is a more prudent and pragmatic approach, taking into account the following considerations: first, enforcement, investigation and prosecution are Government's duties and functions involving the exercise of public powers, and should therefore continue to be undertaken by Government officers to ensure independence and consistency of enforcement. Second, if the central body employs consultants and contractors to carry out all building maintenance and renovation works on behalf of owners, or even decides on behalf of owners whether to accept inspection reports, pass the scope of works, and select consultants and contractors, etc, such kind of comprehensive "agency" model not only deviates from the principle that owners should be responsible for maintaining their own properties, but also weaken owners' right to choose. A single body using its own consultants and works teams to monopolise all building maintenance and renovation works will also affect market competition. Concentrating a large number of maintenance responsibilities in a single body may also result in unbearable responsibilities and legal risks. All these are complex issues to handle.

Proposed Amendments to the BO

The DEVB proposes to amend the BO. The latest amendment proposals include (details in Annex 2):

(a) Establishing large-scale repair as a new category of works, with strengthened statutory regulation and heavier penalties for non-compliance. This includes the requirement to submit plans and a site supervision plan to the BD to obtain a permit before works can commence. Applicable penalties for non-compliance will be aligned with those for new building works (i.e. substantially higher than those currently applicable under the minor works control regime). The qualifications of professionals and contractors who may supervise and carry out such works will also be tightened, so as to enhance the overall effectiveness of supervision and the quality of works.

(b) Clearly defining powers and responsibilities to elevate professional independence. The two functions under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS)— namely, building inspection and the subsequent works planning and supervision functions — will be separated. It will be stipulated that these two functions for the same maintenance and renovation project must be undertaken by different professionals, so as to sever the chain of interests.

(c) Strengthening building and fire safety standards, empowering the BD to prescribe requirements for safety measures and standards for building materials through practice notes or circular letter, and creating a new offence so that prosecution can be instituted directly for contravention of the requirements specified by the BD, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of prosecution. An "Expert Panel on Large-scale Repair" to be led by the DEVB will assist in formulating the macro standards, principles and guidelines for large-scale repair.

(d) Significantly raising the maximum fines for non-compliance. In general, the fines will be three times the current levels (and even higher for certain offences), so as to enhance deterrence against non-compliance.

(e) Tightening the registration renewal and disciplinary systems for professionals and contractors, including substantially raising disciplinary fines, and strictly enforcing the deregistration mechanism, such as immediate deregistration without disciplinary hearing for professionals or contractors who have committed offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance or the Competition Ordinance, as well as expediting and enhancing the handling of disciplinary hearing cases.

The proposed BO amendments must be accompanied by vigorous enforcement in order to achieve deterrent effect. Regardless of whether the works are related to new building or maintenance and renovation, the BD will proactively step up the review of the industry's performance, strengthen enforcement and prosecution, and severely punish non-compliance. This includes comprehensively reviewing building inspection and supervision reports under the MBIS, and stepping up on-site audits and surprise inspections. Details are set out in Annex 2 (II)(i) and (ii).

Revamping Organisational Structure of the BD

Following the shift to a more proactive regulatory model, the BD needs to undertake a substantive amount of enforcement work. To meet the challenges, the BD will revamp its organisational structure to comprehensively enhance its enforcement capabilities. The department will carefully review its manpower deployment and additional manpower requirements.

The reorganisation mainly covers the following aspects. First, two divisions, each led by a Deputy Director, will be set up at the top management level to oversee new buildings and existing buildings respectively, ensuring that there is sufficient high-level leadership and reasonable division of labour and resource deployment within the department to supervise the regulatory work of new and existing buildings. Second, the existing sectional arrangements for existing buildings will be reformed. The current six sections across the territory will be reorganised into ten teams and be put under a District Chief system. Each district team will be led by a directorate officer of the BD, Leading departmental professional and technical staff to follow closely the situation of existing buildings within the district. The district teams will comprehensively take charge of enforcement work under the BO for existing buildings in their respective district, including end-to-end monitoring of the MBIS and enforcement against unauthorised building works. As the convenor, each District Chief will lead an inter-departmental task group, comprising officers from the Housing Bureau, Fire Services Department and Labour Department, etc, to promote communication and collaboration among departments in respect of site inspections and handling of complaints for projects under the MBIS in the district, ensuring that project safety risks and complaints are properly handled. Third, a "Dedicated Audit and Monitoring Section" will be established to conduct internal audits of departmental work and the delegated enforcement work of the newly established PBC under the Housing Bureau. This Section reports directly to the Director of Buildings. Fourth, a directorate officer will be seconded to the PBC to strengthen communication between the BD and the PBC and assist the PBC in effectively discharging its delegated duties. Details of the reorganisation are set out in Annex 3.

Radical reform of the ICU and establishment of the PBC

The HB will establish the PBC within November to replace the existing ICU. The PBC will strengthen and focus regulation of existing buildings and maintenance works of all public rental housing (PRH) estates and subsidised sale housing courts and related facilities sold or divested by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA). The PBC will also regulate new public housing development projects (including PRH and subsidised sale housing) by the HA, as well as relevant works for existing PRH estates that have not been divested.

Maintenance and renovation project-based regime

In regulating existing buildings, the PBC will implement a new regulatory regime. Instead of the current practice where multiple regulatory teams with different functional scopes (such as the MBIS team, minor works team, site monitoring team and existing building team) carry out regulatory work independently based on their respective functions, the approach will be shifted to a project-based model of building maintenance and renovation works. This will provide macro-level co-ordination and comprehensive handling of large-scale maintenance and renovation projects in housing courts/estates, particularly those involving large-scale maintenance works with high risks, thereby improving the overall project co-ordination, communication, and risk control.

Establishment of project-specific teams

Where individual public housing courts/estates carry out major building maintenance and renovation works regulated under the BO, the Head of the PBC will set up a project-specific team for the court/estate concerned to co-ordinate and handle related works matters in an integrated manner. The project team will specifically assign a dedicated member of staff as liaison officer to proactively contact the Owners' Corporation and provide necessary assistance on maintenance and renovation matters.

Strengthen direct communication with the BD

As abovementioned, to ensure accurate and effective exercise of the powers under the BO delegated by the Director of Buildings in future, the BD will shortly second a directorate officer to the PBC to further strengthen accurate, direct and prompt communication between the two departments. The subject directorate officer will provide direct guidance and participate in the daily regulation of existing buildings, offer professional advice of the BD and the BO to the PBC staff, assist in establishing operation guidelines and monitoring mechanism, as well as assisting in the conduct of continuous training for team staff on their awareness and ability in law enforcement.

Following the DEVB's amendments to the BO, the PBC will proactively and fully implement the amended BO and strictly enforce the statutory requirements. The PBC will also fully cooperate with the regular audits by the BD's Dedicated Audit and Monitoring Section, so as to ensure effectiveness and consistency in enforcement approach and standards.

Ongoing improvement measures

The newly established PBC will continue to implement the improvement measures that the ICU has put in place for regulating major maintenance and renovation works of housing courts/estates, covering targeted regulation of maintenance and renovation works of housing courts/estates, introduction of routine surprise inspections, enhancement in monitoring the performance of Registered Inspectors and Registered Contractors, making good use of technology to combat fraud, establishment of cross-departmental co-ordination and information-sharing mechanism, strict enforcement of the BD's requirements on fire safety precautionary measures, etc.

Source: AI-found images