Hong Kong to tighten contractor oversight after Tai Po blaze, minister vows

Hong Kong’s development minister has vowed to tighten monitoring of contractors and explore harsher penalties for industry misconduct following criticisms that the government’s reliance on their self-supervision was partly to blame for the deadly Tai Po blaze. But Bernadette Linn Hon-ho also defended the current regulatory system, stressing that violations were penalised. “The monitoring system has never been designed to allow the professionals to do whatever they like unchecked. But the...

By Ng Kang-chung