Tai Po fire: Former top official urges gov’t to publish building inspection report to clear buyout doubts

A former top Hong Kong official has called on the government to release a structural inspection report of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court to dispel the concerns of homeowners who have rejected the government’s apartment buyback offer.

Hong Kong’s former secretary for transport and housing Anthony Cheung said in an op-ed published in Ming Pao on Wednesday that the use of specialised legislation to buy out flats from owners who have refused the government’s buyback scheme would be at odds with private property rights.

As of mid-October, over 93 per cent of Wang Fuk Court homeowners have signed a formal sales agreement to sell their flats to the government as part of a buyout scheme following the deadly fire almost a year ago.

The government has said it could resort to legal means for those who did not sign.

“The Basic Law protects private property rights, and the government cannot expropriate private assets without a clear ‘public interest’ justification or a legitimate public purpose,” Cheung wrote in Chinese.

The Tai Po fire broke out on November 26 last year, engulfing seven buildings in the government-subsidised estate during large-scale renovation works. The blaze killed 168 people and displaced over 4,600 residents.

“Passing special legislation to authorise compulsory acquisition would easily stoke fears of setting a precedent for government expropriation of private property; it must be handled with extreme prudence, as it risks facing judicial reviews that could drag on indefinitely,” Cheung said.

To date, the Housing Bureau has yet to release the structural inspection report, “leaving the true extent of the damage unclear,” Cheung said. Some residents, including some who have rejected the government’s buyout, have expressed doubts that their homes are not salvageable.

“A sceptical minority of owners remain locked in disputes with the government, with some rejecting the buyout proposal,” the former minister said. “The structural inspection report should be published as soon as possible to dispel public doubts.”

‘The banality of evil’

Cheung also commented on an independent probe committee’s final report that was submitted to the government last week, highlighting “dual institutional failures” where the government failed to detect wrongdoing and private sector gatekeepers failed to do their duty.

He described a “banality of evil” within the bureaucracy, with superficial inspections and departments passing the buck.

“[There was] a collapse of professional integrity and fraudulent neglect of duty, where professional certification and third-party gatekeepers were reduced to mere rubber-stamp exercises,” he wrote.

Regarding the government’s proposed reforms, Cheung said that “genuine transformation” was needed in organisational culture “to avoid putting old wine into new bottles” – a concern that lawmakers voiced after city leader Lee announced the reform package.

In the article, Cheung also addressed former housing minister Winnie Ho’s resignation and the discussions around political accountability.

Ho led the Housing Bureau, which oversaw the disgraced Independent Checking Unit. The probe committee report also said that the Fire Services Department, the Buildings Department, and the Labour Department, bore a share of the responsibility for the fire.

“Naturally, the public questions why other bureau directors who also oversee implicated departments have remained in office. While the chief executive’s explanation that this was a ‘political decision’ may not entirely lay the public’s doubts to rest, such is life.”

Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team

Support HKFP  |  Policies & Ethics  |  Error/typo?  |  Contact  |  Newsletter  | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps

Make a one-off donation.

James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.

Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.