A Hong Kong fire services official has defended a decision to decline mainland Chinese firefighters’ help to combat the city’s deadliest inferno in decades, citing concerns they might be unable to immediately adapt to the new environment and effectively communicate with their local counterparts. On the 12th day of a public evidential hearing on Wednesday,…
Hong Kong authorities conducted no fire risk assessment of a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) Wang Fuk Court renovation project before the city’s deadliest fire in decades ravaged the site, a public inquiry has heard. Sam Keung Sai-ming, an assistant director of the Fire Services Department’s licensing and certification branch, said on Friday that authorities did…
Hong Kong housing authorities have spent HK$34 million (US$4.3 million) on recovery efforts following the devastating fire at Wang Fuk Court, including removing damaged scaffolding, conducting structural assessments and strengthening works. The Housing Bureau said on Thursday evening that the HK$34 million expenditure was the main reason for the 22.1 per cent increase in the…
At least two bid-rigging syndicates could be linked to the HK$336 million (US$43 million) renovation bid for a housing estate destroyed in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, a lawyer for the competition watchdog has said at the fourth session of an evidential hearing. Lester Lee Hiu-leung, the Competition Commission’s executive director for legal services,…
A lawyer for the Hong Kong government has rejected “groundless” assertions that its surveyors conspired with a renovation contractor at the centre of the city’s deadliest fire in decades to conceal flammable materials used at the site, suggesting the firm did not have enough time to plan a deception before a crucial inspection. But Jenkin…
Contractors for a renovation project at the site of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades got away with covering up the use of substandard material because of systemic defects in government supervision, a public inquiry into the blaze that claimed 168 lives has heard. In the first of a series of evidential hearings, a judge-led…
Victor Dawes, former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, has been appointed lead counsel to an independent committee investigating the city’s deadliest fire in decades, with the inquiry expected to begin in the first quarter, the Post has learned. “Preparation work [for the hearing] has been under way at full force. The target is…
One way or another, the aftermath of the tragic Tai Po fire is going to dominate Hong Kong’s political life throughout the coming year, possibly for the whole of the new Legislative Council term. In the closing stages of the recently completed election, candidates pledged their support for recovery efforts. There is no reason to…