Key facts
- A new joint task force will be established to combat bid-rigging in Hong Kong's building renovation industry.
- Law enforcement will attend owners' corporation meetings to gather intelligence and intervene early.
- The reforms aim to address triad network influence in contracts worth hundreds of millions.
Hong Kong authorities have pledged reforms and vowed accountability following the release of a report investigating the deadly Tai Po fire. The fire exposed entrenched criminal influence in the building renovation industry, with triad networks influencing contracts worth hundreds of millions. Security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung expressed confidence that a new joint task force led by him will eradicate the decades-long problem of bid-rigging, denying that the reforms came too late. Law enforcement officers will attend meetings of owners’ corporations where the risk of bid-rigging was deemed high to gather frontline intelligence and intervene early.