The head of Hong Kong’s Executive, John Lee, accompanied by several of his main aides, has bowed in a sign of apology for the fire at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, which in November last year left 168 dead and more than 4,600 residents homeless. Nearly a year after the disaster, Lee has also announced the resignation of the Housing Secretary, Winnie Ho.
The Housing portfolio will be temporarily taken over by Michael Wong, Deputy Secretary for Finance and head of the task force created to coordinate the long-term resettlement of the survivors of the subsidized housing complex.
The announcement was made at a press briefing called with barely two hours’ notice, just after the independent committee that investigated the fire handed its final report to the head of the Executive. The text includes 120 proposals, among them measures to curb fraudulent practices in building maintenance works tenders, according to the independent English-language outlet Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP).
Lee has indicated that the Government will open an internal investigation to determine possible administrative responsibilities, after failures were detected in the performance of the Independent Control Unit of the Housing Bureau and the departments of Buildings, Fire Services and Labor. The Public Service Commission will have a period of three months to put forward recommendations on possible disciplinary or administrative sanctions within the level II investigation mechanism of the departmental heads accountability system.
The report is especially critical of the official management and concludes that "the failures were systemic and widespread cannot be ignored." It also reproaches the fact that officials "ignored the real and legitimate concerns of residents regarding safety," despite prior warnings from neighbors about the construction company and the consultancy responsible for the renovation of the complex.
The committee’s lead lawyer, according to HKFP, had already warned in July that the Government "has the inescapable responsibility to perform its regulatory role and protect the lives of residents".
The investigation points to Prestige Construction & Engineering and Will Power Architects among the main responsible parties for the disaster, responsible respectively for carrying out the works and for overseeing the project. According to the document, both companies "cut corners in numerous aspects" and were "the main culprits of the fire and the high number of fatalities".
During the public hearings held in recent months, attention has focused on the use of scaffolding nets of poor quality, which would have facilitated the rapid spread of the fire, as well as on possible irregularities in the awards and on the lack of adequate inspections.
The survivors have spent months demanding accountability for a catastrophe that destroyed seven blocks of this public housing complex amid a major renovation. At the beginning of October, Lee had already assured that the authorities would "demand responsibility", although then he avoided clarifying whether possible negligence by officials would be reviewed or whether removals were being considered.
The fire has become the deadliest recorded in Hong Kong since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire in a warehouse in Shek Tong Tsui caused at least 176 deaths. The episode has led to a serious crisis for the Hong Kong Government, which has begun to move to contain any outbreak of social protest.