New measures to strengthen Hong Kong’s building maintenance regime after the deadly Tai Po fire only scratch the surface of long-standing issues that require deeper systemic reforms and tougher laws, according to experts and industry figures. The damning verdict came after the government’s pledges and proposals on Wednesday to close policy gaps and tackle entrenched…
Hong Kong’s newly elected lawmakers, many of them fresh faces on the political scene, held their first meeting on Wednesday, with officials pledging to address policy gaps exposed by the deadly Tai Po inferno, from tightening oversight of maintenance project tenders and raising homeowner voting thresholds to imposing a smoking ban at construction sites. Wednesday…
The consultant behind the renovation of Wang Fuk Court, the housing estate reduced to ruins in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in seven decades, is to close down as experts warn the case highlights limited protection for flat owners under the city’s corporate liability laws. The Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies told the Post…
Hong Kong’s worst blaze in seven decades has exposed an ugly open secret of a murky and rapacious building renovation business that is plagued by bid-rigging and skyrocketing costs even as it staves off feeble official efforts to tackle collusive conduct. Experts and former insiders offered this grim assessment, pointing to the city as a…