As an adage goes, “It is never too late to mend.” The judge-led Independent Committee’s report on the Wang Fuk Court fire was released on Oct 29, along with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s announcement of a raft of reform measures with the objective of launching accountability, plugging institutional loopholes, and rectifying systemic defects.
The report attributed faults and deliberate misconduct by private contractors and engineering consultants, and noted “decades of failure” and the “slack enforcement attitude” of regulatory bodies overseeing the construction, building management and fire safety engineering industries, including the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, the Fire Services Department, the Labour Department, and the Buildings Department.
Drawing upon the findings of the report, besides making a public apology over the fire, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government unveiled sweeping reforms in seven areas to combat bid-rigging in building maintenance works and improve the regulatory framework and support services involving a revising of six pieces of legislation, among which the Competition Ordinance (Cap 619) will be given more teeth to criminalize bid-ridding. Offenders will face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$10 million ($1.27 million). The Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance and the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance will also be amended to empower law enforcement agencies to summon witnesses for interviews, gather evidence and freeze assets, while allowing the ICAC to exercise statutory power.
In rooting out the malpractice of bid-rigging and anti-competitive conduct plaguing the building maintenance industry, a new Building Maintenance Support and Services Council, established as a nonstatutory company wholly owned by Financial Secretary Incorporated, will commence operations at the end of the year with the mission to guide homeowners through the full cycle of building repairs. Unlike the Urban Renewal Authority’s Smart Tender platform, which only helps owners solicit bids but does not assess them, the council will arrange for tenders and evaluate them for owners and recommend up to three suitable bids from prequalification lists. On top of appointing supervision consultants and contractors, the council will also heighten the scrutiny of the tendering process through integrity and background checks to ensure that only law-abiding, qualified firms operate in the building maintenance market. This not only strengthens the support to homeowners on hefty and costly building maintenance works, but also ensures more legitimate market players in the building-maintenance industry.
Despite the swift government response with a slew of political accountability and reform measures, some critics questioned the report and the reform measures in particular, claiming that the political accountability was “too late, too little”. Such broad-brush remarks, failing to consider the government’s unremitting efforts to support the affected residents and the serious accountability moves, including a principal official’s resignation, are no different from empty disparagement against the government.
Immediately after the Tai Po fire, the government launched a full-scale rescue effort, deploying substantial human and financial resources to meticulously provide unremitting support to the affected residents. As for the relocating arrangement of the residents concerned, the government offered to purchase property rights in Wang Fuk Court at prices above the market values, while at the same time rendering the grief-stricken homeowners an option to receive a cash payment to purchase their own flats or a “property-for-property” exchange to acquire brand-new government-subsidized housing. As of today, over 90 percent of Wang Fuk Court homeowners have accepted the government proposal. This reveals the “people-centered” mentality of the government in providing care and support to the affected residents.
Compared to the inquiry reports of Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017, a disaster similar in nature and claiming 72 lives, which took over seven years for its first publication, not to mention when the wrongful parties would be charged and convicted, the Independent Committee on Wang Fuk Court completed its investigation in less than a year, setting out the root causes for the fire and a series of recommendations, demonstrating a higher degree of efficiency and accountability than the London counterpart.
In line with general political conventions, any decisions made by a responsible government in relation to political accountability and launch of reform measures consequent upon any major disaster must be based on solid factual basis. Any prejudgment by the government single-handedly merely based on emotional media reports goes against the due process of law as central to the rule of law. The government announcement of the start of accountability procedures and launch of reform measures on the very day the report was made public demonstrated promptness and administrative efficiency. It is also in line with similar practices of governments in other jurisdictions like the United States and the United Kingdom in similar situations. The administrative decisions were made with regard to the report. This allows the public to thoroughly and better understand how the government decisions are reached in light of the factual findings and conclusions of the Independent Committee.
As for the criticism that only housing secretary Winnie Ho Wing-Yin resigned, and demands that more heads roll from other government departments, it oversimplifies Hong Kong’s political accountability system as a political witch hunt purely on an emotional basis. The chief executive already explained that the resignation decision took into account a range of factors, including the official’s purview, the relationship between her policy portfolio and the incident, the performance of subordinates, and the reform tasks the political team must shoulder. Those who demand the axing of more department heads fail to understand the negative impact on the imperative need to maintain effective governance in the remaining term of the government.
“There’s always a rainbow after the rain.” While it is important to remember the pain and the loss of 168 lives and the sorrowful state of the bereaved families, lessons must be learned from this tragic fire: It is appreciated that the government spares no moment spearheading a series of institutional reform measures in areas such as building maintenance workflows, regulatory systems, support frameworks, and complaint-handling mechanisms. This marks a shift of the government’s approach to disaster management from emergency response and postincident remediation to institutionalized prevention and systematic governance. With the effective implementation of institutional-reform measures, it is certain that a similar tragedy on this scale will not happen again.
The author is founder and chairperson of Y Legalites, and a practicing solicitor of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
