Hong Kong housing chief quits over Tai Po fire report

Hong Kong — Hong Kong's housing chief Winnie Ho has resigned after a judge-led inquiry into the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po that claimed 168 lives found sweeping failures across government, with officials admitting that what they called decades of failure led to the tragedy, the South China Morning Post reported.

The report, released 11 months after the blaze, assigned blame to the main contractor for renovations at the housing estate, the project consultant and an inspector for their alleged roles in the tragedy. It also singled out four government departments for accountability, according to the SCMP.

The committee said the Housing Bureau's Independent Checking Unit should bear the greatest responsibility among the four, citing a lack of oversight of the renovation work at Wang Fuk Court. The other bodies criticised were the Fire Services Department, the Buildings Department and the Labour Department.

Chief Executive John Lee held a press briefing alongside top officials to outline follow-up actions and systemic reforms. The government is expected to introduce legislation to criminalise bid-rigging and to reform how engineering and renovation contractors are supervised, the SCMP reported.

A high-level steering committee led by the chief secretary will be established to track the progress of the reforms. Ho's resignation is the most senior political consequence so far of a fire that has become a test of accountability for Hong Kong's renovation and building-safety regime.

The next markers will be the promised bid-rigging legislation and the steering committee's first progress assessments, which will show how far the administration's promised overhaul of contractor supervision goes.