Criminalising bid-rigging to bring ‘revolutionary overhaul’ to sector: minister

The Hong Kong government’s sweeping reforms to crack down on bid-rigging are intended to bring about a “revolutionary overhaul” of the city’s building maintenance ecosystem, the justice minister has said.

Three days after the government unveiled a range of measures in response to an independent committee report on the Tai Po fire, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said the proposed legislative amendments aimed to raise standards and strengthen oversight.

“The market currently offers too lucrative a piece of ‘fat meat’ that has been monopolised by bad people,” he told a radio programme on Sunday.