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In the wake of the official release of the Wang Fuk Court report, Winnie Ho has resigned from her post as Secretary for Housing to take political responsibility, with Michael Wong, the Deputy Financial Secretary, stepping in to oversee the Housing Bureau.
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Michael Wong
Speaking at a press conference today, Wong announced that the Housing Bureau will undergo a major structural reform, which includes the establishment of a brand-new Public Housing Building Control Section within November this year to replace the existing Independent Checking Unit.
The newly formed control unit will fully regulate maintenance works for all public housing estates and subsidized housing estates that have been sold or divested by the Housing Authority.
In addition, the unit will oversee ongoing new public housing construction projects and relevant works in existing public housing estates that have not been divested.
Project-based system introduced to bolster risk control
Regarding the regulatory framework, the new control unit will implement a completely fresh management model.
Moving forward, authorities will coordinate and comprehensively handle the regulation of maintenance works on an individual, project-by-project basis.
The government believes this new project-based regulatory system will effectively improve overall coordination and communication efficiency while enabling stronger risk control.
To carry out these concrete duties, the control unit will set up a dedicated project team for every single maintenance project to coordinate all related engineering matters.
The dedicated team will specifically assign a liaison officer to proactively establish contact with the owners' corporation of each project.
Authorities emphasized that this initiative aims to put residents first, adopting a people-oriented philosophy to offer practical assistance through one-stop communication and services.
Directorate officer deployed to enhance inter-departmental communication
Furthermore, the Buildings Department will soon deploy a directorate officer to be stationed within the new control unit to further strengthen accurate, direct, and rapid communication between departments.
The directorate officer will also provide professional advice on enforcing the Buildings Ordinance to the control unit's staff and assist in training personnel.
Regulatory alignment supported by legislative amendments and regular audits
Wong added that the Development Bureau is actively pushing forward amendments to the Buildings Ordinance, which aim to enhance the regulation of major building maintenance works, construction professionals, and contractors.
The newly established control unit will strictly enforce the revised legal requirements and fully cooperate with the Buildings Department's dedicated audit and monitoring team on regular audits.
This cooperation is designed to ensure regulatory effectiveness and align enforcement approaches and standards across departments.
Wong stressed that all these reform measures are being implemented based on the recommendations of the independent committee's report, and he will work closely with colleagues in the Housing Bureau, relevant policy bureaus, and government departments to implement these initiatives.
