Tai Po fire probe: URA’s lack of price checks opened door to ‘unscrupulous consultants’
168 died as URA ignored bid-rigging and flammable materials in HK estate upgrade.
An independent committee investigating the November 26 fire at Hong Kong's Wang Fuk Court residential estate, which killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents, heard damning testimony on Thursday about the Urban Renewal Authority's (URA) oversight failures. URA case manager Matthew Chan Yat-ho admitted the authority was aware of bid-rigging practices in the building maintenance sector but did not intervene by assessing the reasonableness of individual bids for the HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) renovation project. The blaze, which broke out during renovations of eight blocks, was accelerated by flammable polyfoam boards used to seal household windows and allegedly non-fire-retardant scaffolding mesh.
The Buildings Department testified that while polyfoam boards are regulated by law due to fire risks, the Wang Fuk Court case fell outside its remit because it oversees private buildings, not government-built subsidized housing estates regulated by the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) under the Housing Bureau. A retired senior surveyor rejected the ICU's claim that no regulations governed foam materials, noting the unit had not consulted him. Additionally, the department relied on contractor-submitted certificates to assess scaffolding mesh fire retardancy but had no mechanism to verify those documents. The Home Affairs Department's Tai Po district officers were also questioned about their roles in estate management decisions related to the renovation project.
- URA knew of bid-rigging in building maintenance but didn't assess bid reasonableness for Wang Fuk Court's HK$336M renovation.
- 168 people died and 5,000 were displaced after flammable polyfoam boards and non-fire-retardant scaffolding mesh fueled the fire.
- Buildings Department relied on unverified contractor certificates for fire safety, and the ICU falsely claimed no foam material regulations existed.
Why It Matters
Systemic oversight failures in Hong Kong's renovation sector led to a preventable tragedy, exposing gaps in bid-rigging detection and fire safety verification.