The Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po last year, which caused 168 deaths, upended nearly 2,000 homes, and displaced over 4,600 residents, would not have happened but for a series of failures, including regulatory lapses.

During British rule, the public would not have expected any senior government officials —particularly expatriate officials — to be held responsible or to lose their jobs in the absence of an accountability system for high-ranking officials.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s administration should be commended for its determination to be completely transparent, to vigorously seek the truth, and to pursue civil service accountability. Secretary of Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin, although there is no evidence of any personal misconduct or negligence on her part, resigned to take political accountability. This should set an excellent precedent for responsible governance in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The SAR government’s remedial measures and reforms to prevent any future occurrence are comprehensive, covering the entire spectrum of deterrence, prevention, and public education. Of these, deterrence should be the most important. As the chief executive pointed out, the main culprit is bid-rigging by building contractors, which has existed for years, yet law enforcement has not been effective. The proposed solution to criminalize bid-rigging, with proposed maximum penalties of 10 years’ imprisonment and fines of HK$10 million ($1.27 million), is the right direction. But equally important is that the Independent Commission Against Corruption should be given jurisdiction to investigate the new offenses. With its wide investigative powers and the professional capability accumulated over the years, the public should have confidence that such malpractice will be eradicated and that they will no longer have to be victims of bid-rigging and pay a high price for building renovation. The public should welcome this change.

All in all, the remedial measures and reforms, when implemented, would be a catalyst for a much safer Hong Kong.

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The Independent Committee’s inquiry also revealed an issue worthy of attention. According to the hearing, in 2014 Wang Fuk Court was selected as a target building under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme, and statutory notices under Section 30B of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) were subsequently issued by the Buildings Department on June 20, 2016, mandating the Owners Corporation of Wang Fuk Court to arrange for the inspection and repair of the common areas and external walls of all eight blocks. However, a government official admitted at the hearing that there was no known structural deficiency at that time and that the statutory notices were issued based purely on the fact that the estate had crossed the statutory threshold of 30 years of age and had been selected randomly through the department’s annual target selection process. Such a practice is debatable. The government’s old building renovation policy is primarily intended to ensure the structural safety of buildings. Hence, is there a real need for such statutory notices when there is no known structural deficiency — notices that gave unscrupulous consultants the opportunity to exaggerate a long list of renovation requirements, causing every resident to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars — bearing in mind that some residents living in old estates are relatively poor? The government should issue such statutory notices only if there is a known structural deficiency. That would be a great relief to the tens of thousands of residents living in old mansions.

Furthermore, on public education, the government should impose a mandatory training course for owners’ corporations (OCs). As in the case of Wang Fuk Court and many others, few of the chairmen or members of an OC have any basic knowledge of construction and renovation projects and hence can easily fall prey to unscrupulous contractors and consultants. It could be stipulated that the chairman of any OC may only be appointed if they have attended such a training course.

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Finally, the government has done a great job in providing new homes for the fire victims, with a large majority signing agreements to sell their flats to the government. For a very small minority, the government should consider using the professional arbitration service to settle their grievances, rather than creating new legislation to forcibly take over their flats.

The author is a retired deputy commissioner of ICAC and an honorary fellow of HKU Space and Hong Kong Metropolitan University.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.