Hong Kong leader pledges building maintenance reforms after fatal Tai Po fire

Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to overhaul the city's building maintenance regime and improve emergency response following last year's fatal Tai Po fire, which killed 168 people. In his policy address, Lee outlined plans to introduce "pre-qualified lists" of consultants and contractors for renovation works, vetted through background checks conducted by law-enforcement agencies.

The government will also study criminalising bid-rigging in major building maintenance works and submit a proposal to the Legislative Council later this year. Lee's address also proposed further amendments to the Buildings Ordinance to strengthen oversight and increase penalties for large renovation projects. The government is considering requiring major renovation works at multi-block estates to be carried out in phases, unless contractors introduce specified safety measures.

Authorities are also planning to accept applications for the pre-qualified lists from later this month and roll out the list by the end of the year.

Brief written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.