Wang Fuk Court

Wang Fuk Court administrator to hold online meetings with displaced residents The government-appointed administrator of Wang Fuk Court, the Hong Kong estate devastated by a deadly fire last November, will hold two online meetings with displaced residents this month after 240 flat owners threatened legal action in a petition. Hop On Management Company announced on Wednesday that the Zoom meetings will take place from 7pm to 9pm next Tuesday and from 2pm to 4pm on May 20, prompting complaints from residents about the virtual format and its limitations. Participation is...

Stories filled with tragic bravery, outrage at heedless officials and horror as loved ones perished were among those shared by 24 residents of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court estate, as they testified at a public hearing investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. Over multiple sessions that began on March 19, some told the presiding committee how their repeated efforts to raise bid-rigging and safety concerns about the estate’s exterior renovation fell on deaf ears, well before the...

The Hong Kong government is confident that at least three-quarters of homeowners of Wang Chi House – the only block unscathed in the Wang Fuk Court fire – will accept its buy-back package by the end of June. Speaking on Saturday, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said few owners were likely to change their minds about the government’s offer for the 248 flats, which were initially excluded from the resettlement plan. Wang Chi House was the only one of the estate’s eight towers that...

Almost half of notices filed to deactivate fire-fighting systems over the past two years for maintenance involved renovation projects that lasted longer than the maximum two months allowed under new rules introduced after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, official data has shown. A spokesman for the Fire Services Department told the South China Morning Post that the new rules would also apply to ongoing projects which had their notices to shut down the fire-fighting system before the recent...