Tai Po fire inquiry panel to delay submitting final report to late October: source

‘We need more time to organise the evidence. There are many documents to review, much new material,’ source tells SCMP An independent committee examining the causes of Hong Kong’s deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze will delay submitting its final report to late October, a month later than expected, citing the need for more time to review documents, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source confirmed to the SCMP on Saturday that the judge-led panel’s final report was likely to be submitted to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in late October, rather than September as the committee’s nine-month investigation deadline had suggested. “We need more time to organise the evidence. There are many documents to review, much new material,” the source said. Set up in December last year, weeks after the inferno at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court had killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000, the independent committee was tasked with examining the fire’s cause, existing regulations, whether there were systemic problems concerning large-scale building renovation works in the city, and making suggestions on these areas.

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