Wang Fuk Court report still pending as reform plan stalls until end-October

The Development Bureau will begin accepting applications on September 30 for three prequalification lists covering building inspection consultants, tender consultants and contractors. The three-week application period is expected to produce the lists by the end of the year, with the earliest evaluation of tenders on behalf of owners expected to begin in the first quarter of next year. This is a step the Government can take without waiting for anyone’s approval. But the more fundamental changes set out in the same Policy Address — whether major repair works should be handled by a subsidiary of the Urban Renewal Authority or a newly established “Building Rehabilitation Authority”, whether fees would be higher than those under the existing Tendering and Procurement scheme, and how provisions to criminalise bid-rigging should be drafted — are all on hold. The official line has been consistent: the Government must wait for the report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Wang Fuk Court fire.

The report was originally due within nine months, or around mid-September. The latest official position is now that it will be submitted “before the end of October”. The commission confirmed in a notice on August 18 that the Chief Executive had agreed to an extension, saying it was still working through more than one million files of documentary evidence and information and was in the drafting stage. The date is even later than an earlier reported timeline. In July, sources said the delay would take the report to “mid-to-late October”. The official version has now been pushed to the end of the month, marking the second confirmation of the delay.

More noteworthy than the date is another detail in the July report: Senior Counsel To Kwan-kan, representing the commission, named several government departments in his closing submissions at the hearings, including the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, the Fire Services Department, the Buildings Department and the Labour Department. According to sources, this has set the tone for the commission’s final conclusions — that government departments bear some responsibility for the fire. The claim has not been officially confirmed or denied by either the commission or the Government. It is based on a single source and is presented here as “according to sources”; readers should note that it remains unverified.

Seen together, the two developments suggest that the decisions the Government is holding back until the report is published are precisely those involving a restructuring of the system, public spending or legislative amendments. Yet the report said to be nearing completion is reportedly expected to point to responsibility within government departments themselves. In other words, if the reports are accurate, the Government is to some extent waiting for a report that may single out and criticise its own departments before announcing how the entire major-repair oversight system will be restructured. That reflects political caution and helps explain why the Government has repeatedly stressed in recent months that no decision has been made and that it remains open-minded.

At the final hearing on July 17, commission chairman Lam Kai-hong said that without a complete account supported by facts, all expressions of sympathy would be empty words. He stressed that the inquiry had at all times followed the principles of fairness, openness and impartiality. His remarks also addressed, to some extent, concerns over the repeated postponement of the report. The timetable has shifted from the original September target, to mid-to-late October as reported in July, and then to the end of October officially confirmed in August. The timetable itself has become a measure by which the public assesses the commission’s work.

For owners’ corporations undertaking or planning major repair works, the most immediate milestone is the three-week application period for the prequalification lists, from September 30 to October 23. This process will proceed as scheduled regardless of when the report is published. But the new tender evaluation service that owners can actually use will not begin operating until the first quarter of next year, according to documents submitted by the Development Bureau to the Legislative Council. Whether it will charge more than the existing Tendering and Procurement scheme remains a claim by sources and has not been officially confirmed. In other words, the delayed report is not merely postponing a recommendation on paper; it is also delaying the practical timetable for when owners can use the service and how much they will have to pay.