By Clare Jim and Anne Marie Roantree
HONG KONG, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Hong Kong leader John Lee apologised on Thursday for the deadly blaze that killed 168 people in the city last November, promising extensive reforms to its building industry and regulatory system.
Lee was speaking shortly before he was due to release a lengthy report by the judge-led panel that is expected to detail a series of regulatory and supervisory failings in Hong Kong’s building-renovation system.
Lee also announced the resignation of Hong Kong’s Housing Secretary Winnie Ho, saying that four government bodies bore partial responsibility.
Ho was the first official to resign over the inferno. The Hong Kong government, after receiving the committee’s report last week, is expected to decide which individuals and officials, if any, should be held accountable, as well as outlining disciplinary actions and a reform plan.
The blaze that ripped through seven 31-storey tower blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex, which was undergoing renovation work in the northern Tai Po district, was the deadliest in the city since 1948. Thousands of residents were displaced after their homes became uninhabitable.
(Reporting by Clare Jim and Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Greg Torode, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Saad Sayeed)
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