CE John Lee meets the press over Tai Po blaze

The government is holding a press conference today afternoon, during which Chief Executive John Lee and other principal officials explain the slew of reforms following the Tai Po fire which claimed 168 lives, detailing how the measures will be carried out and how loopholes in building maintenance will be plugged with housing chief Winnie Ho stepping down.

The city leader led relevant officials in bowing to apologise for the major fire.

JOHN LEE says on the Wang Fuk Court fire, which resulted in 168 deaths, including a heroic firefighter who died in the line of duty, and affected 1,984 families, bringing grief to the victims and sorrow to society, as Chief Executive and head of the government, he is deeply saddened. On behalf of the SAR government, he expresses his apologies to the victims and the general public.

Chief Executive John Lee emphasises that the politically appointed team must shoulder political responsibility. Taking into consideration the roles played by the officials in the incident and whether they will need to handle a massive workload going forward, he decided to accept the resignation of Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho.

He says he met with Secretary Winnie Ho yesterday over the incident. She offered her resignation, expressing her willingness to take political responsibility -- and her resignation has been accepted. Effective today, Ho's duties will cease, and Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong will concurrently serve as Acting Secretary for Housing.

The government released the report submitted by the independent committee on the Wang Fuk Court fire, explicitly naming the major renovation contractor Prestige and the engineering consultant Will Power Architects Company as bearing overall culpability for the major fire.

The report is divided into Volumes 1 and 2, totaling 1,013 pages.

One of the chapters explicitly slams the contractors' responsibilities -- both companies held total responsibility for construction and supervision.

Evidence showed that they were perfunctory and derelict in their duties across multiple areas, including procuring non-flame-retardant scaffolding nets, laying flammable polyfoam boards on windows despite knowing they were flammable -- and failing to effectively prevent workers from smoking. Meanwhile, Will Power never intervened over any of the above issues.